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Washington—Analog TV service will end when 85% of TV households can receive a digital signal. But what of the other 15%, which could lose TV service altogether? The FCC wants to find out who they are and why they don't get cable.

In most markets, adopting a proposed FCC plan would mean that the threshold has already been reached. The FCC is seeking public comment to "minimize the impact on these and other consumers when broadcasters are operating solely in digital."

Mahmudiya, Iraq—Two Japanese freelance journalists were killed by grenades south of Baghdad on May 27, according to several news reports. The Japanese foreign ministry identified them as Shinsuke Hashida, 61, and his nephew, Kotoro Ogawa, 33. There was conflicting information about whether their Iraqi interpreter survived the attack.

The editorial on page 28, listing and honoring the journalists who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, went to press before the incident occurred.

Los Angeles—Because of media conglomeration, gone are the days when TV executives could go with their gut and schedule shows, said speakers at a Beverly Hills luncheon of the Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors.

"It used to be that [former NBC President] Fred Silverman could come back from a three-martini lunch and greenlight a spectacular failure like Supertrain," said producer Lionel Chetwynd.

The WB CEO Jordan Levin had a different lament: "Everyone tries to replicate everyone else's success. You start to circle around the toilet bowl instead of climbing out of it."