The number of people watching broadcast TV with the aid of an antenna is a fraction of what it used to be; about 90% of U.S. homes tune in these channels via some form of pay TV. If Fox decided to shut down its transmitters tomorrow, it would cut off only 10% of its viewers, many of whom might quickly sign up for cable just so they could keep watching "American Idol." And doing so would not only end the threat Aereo poses to the retransmission fees Fox receives from pay-TV operators, it could conceivably enable them to demand higher amounts from those operators -- and from the Aereos of the world.
Belo’s Decherd: New Media Must Be Guided By Old Media Values
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
The Radio Television Digital News Foundation changed its name several years back to reflect the rise of digital media, but March 14 may have been the real milepost as the organization saluted Twitter as a First Amendment award winner. And while traditional journalists collecting their own First Amendment awards echoed salutes to the transformative impact of 140 characters and the technology that powers the Internet, the evening ended with Belo Chairman Robert Decherd advising/warning that investment in traditional journalism and its values should not be trumped by technology.
President Obama meets again with tech bigwigs
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
President Barack Obama met with a number of top technology CEOs and senior executives to discuss policy issues that are key for the industry this year.
Hey Internet, where’s the outrage?
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Compare, for a moment, the Internet industry’s outrage against potential government censorship, as they see it, with the seeming indifference to government surveillance. In 2012, major Web sites staged a massive global protest against a law that would have given the government new powers to shut down sites associated with piracy. Yet, as Congress considers sweeping new surveillance procedures over popular Internet companies, those same digital activists are largely silent. It begs the question, does this younger, tech-savvy generation care more about innovation than civil liberties?
Recalculating the privacy debate after Google Maps penalty
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
By now, consumers and citizens may have detected a pattern: New technologies allow new types of privacy invasions, which then lead to ad hoc remedies – until the next type of intrusion. As the string of Google violations shows – along with dozens of new privacy laws passed since the 1970s – the pace of this cat-and-mouse privacy quest has quickened in the Digital Age.
Supporting Innovative Approaches to Spectrum Sharing
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
The President’s strategy for expanding the capacity of high-speed wireless broadband services across the Nation may get a boost from a new Defense Department Initiative to fund research and development of innovative new approaches to spectrum sharing. Under one strategy for maximizing spectrum efficiency, commercial broadband providers are permitted to share spectrum bands that otherwise would be allocated for exclusive Government use, or vice versa; this approach can increase the productivity of a band that was designated for a specific purpose decades ago but is underutilized today.
Telecom Firms Seek to Curb Publicly Funded Web Services
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Sensing a threat to their business model, telecom companies are pushing more states to curb the spread of publicly funded high-speed Internet access, arguing the networks could squash competition.
When Will the Rest of Us Get Google Fiber?
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
A Google spokeswoman says the company “expects to operate profitably” and that Google Fiber is neither a loss leader nor a PR stunt. If that’s true, then why isn’t it being made available everywhere?
Rupert Murdoch to spend billions on video rights
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper and book publishing arm is to spend billions of dollars on video rights, as it seeks to turn the print business into a multi-media operation.
The Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction: A Staff Summary
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Congress, in passing the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 in early 2012, authorized the FCC to conduct incentive auctions, with the first auction to be of broadcast television spectrum. Congress further directed that certain net proceeds from the broadcast incentive auction are to be deposited in the Public Safety Trust Fund to fund a national first responder network, state and local public safety grants, and public safety research, and the balance is to be used for deficit reduction.