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from:Broadcasting and Cable

Elections' Effect on Media
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/30/2006

“The House is gone.” That's the message from various lobbyists looking ahead to next week's midterm elections. “Gone,” of course, means to Democrats, and a change could have a variety of effects on broadcasters.

from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A bad deal for cable customers

Verizon's plan for statewide franchising would leave many behind

Wednesday, October 25, 2006
By Joel Kelsey and Beth McConnell

The telephone giant that provides many Pennsylvania homes with a dial tone is rapidly working its way into the cable market, as traditional home phone lines go the way of the horse and buggy. Generally, this new competition in cable and telephone markets should help stabilize the ever- increasing bills that consumers pay every month.

from: Riedel Communications

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Conquered By Temptation

I am way too old to be surprised or disappointed, but still I find myself in both predicaments.

The news that Alice Huffman, President of the California chapter of the NAACP, being paid $12,000 per month to lobby on at&t’s behalf in the recent state franchising legislation goes beyond surprise or disappointment straight to shock and disgust. No doubt her title as NAACP head put her in a perfect position to pull down this cash, which she did not earn on behalf of the chapter but on her own behalf. Then again, this payola comes in second to the $160,000 she took on behalf of big tobacco.

from:MetroActive

Crossed Wires

As San Jose hosts a community-media conference, it's become clear that the state's new cable legislation has hidden costs for consumers

By Diane Solomon

COMING SOON to cable TV: your phone company. Promising faster access to emerging technologies, more choices and lower rates for all, California legislators passed a law last month allowing phone companies to bypass cities and get statewide franchises to sell video services directly from California's Public Utilities Commission. Under prior law, pay TV providers, like Silicon Valley's Comcast, had to negotiate franchises city-by-city. As early as spring 2007, you'll be able to buy pay TV from phone companies.

from: MultiChannel News

Mad Money
Cable, Phone, Net Companies Have Spent $110 Million This Year To Influence Telecom Reform. Was It Worth It?
By Ted Hearn 10/23/2006

Washington— On a cold evening in February, cable and telecommunications lobbyists packed the second floor of restaurant Bistro Bis on Capitol Hill to salute Mitch Rose’s decision to leave an executive lobbying post at The Walt Disney Co. and go into business for himself.

from: New York Times

Spreading the Broadband Revolution

By WILLIAM E. KENNARD
Published: October 21, 2006
WASHINGTON

LAST week, Google announced that it would pay $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube, a video-sharing Web site started only 20 months ago. At the same time, CBS announced a content-sharing arrangement with YouTube. This is the new world of interactive television, all made possible by fast broadband connections streaming video over the Internet.

from: Broadcasting & Cable

FCC Faces Flurry of Studies
By John Eggerton 10/19/2006 3:35:00 PM

The Media & Democracy Coalition, comprising a host of anti-media consolidation activist groups , plans to "dump 700-800 pages of studies into the FCC's media ownership proceeding that it says proves most media markets are already concentrated enough.

from: Times Tribune

10/19/2006
Cable legislation dodged, for now
BY SARAH HOFIUS
STAFF WRITER

State House and Senate cable franchising bills are “off the fast track,” but local municipalities still aren’t safe from losing franchise funds, a telecommunications lawyer said this week.

from: Tom Paine

Against An Imperial Internet
Bill Moyers and Scott Fogdall
October 16, 2006

Bill Moyers is host of “The Net At Risk,” a documentary special airing Wednesday, October 18 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Scott Fogdall is with Films Media Group. Visit www.pbs.org/moyers.

from: Seattle Times

Editorial
Bell buyout blocked

Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, the two Democrats on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, have thrown a monkey wrench into AT&T's proposed $18-billion buyout of Bellsouth Corp.

Good for them. More such mega-mergers need to be questioned, and blocked, to preserve diversity of ownership in America's industries of communication.