BC/DC: Eggerton on Washington
BC/DC is the media executives\' must-see view from Washington, delivered by yours truly without the aid of rose-colored glasses and without the need, quite yet, of bifocals.
Video Competition Report Circulated
The FCC circulated its long-awaited video competition report to the commissioners for their vote on Wednesday, according to several FCC sources. The report concludes, among other things, that online video has become a “thriving industry.” The “annual” report (see below) covers developments in the video program market between 2007 and 2010. The term “annual” ...... Read More
Comments (1)Fred, Ed and 'Charlie' Deemed National Treasures
News broadcasts collected by iconic CBS Newsman and later CBS News President Fred Friendly have been added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry to be preserved as “cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures for generations to come.”In 1948, Friendly collected speech and news excerpts into a compilation record narrated by another iconic CBS newsman Edward ...... Read More
Comments (0)Give Laurie That Emmy; It's Later Than You Think
Emmy should be paying a House call next fall. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has one final chance to rectify a glaring oversight. Unlike in Time Tunnel, various Star Trek episodes, and Bullwinkle, ATAS can’t set the Wayback machine and give Jackie Gleason an Emmy for The Honeymooners, or honor Martin Sheen, who never won an Emmy despite statues going to virtually all of ...... Read More
Comments (0)Flash: Rep. Doesn't Get Together With Prostitute
Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, took a gentle shot at media outlets Sunday Sunday while making an unusual annoucement.The headline on the release from his office–”King Declines Request to Meet with Columbian Prostitute”–was one of the more unusual ones, and really needed the context of the Secret Service scandal. Without that, it ...... Read More
Comments (0)FCC Commissioners To Be Sworn In
According to several sources, new Democratic FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is expected to be sworn in today (May 11), likely by her now former boss, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.). Republican nominee Ajit Pai is expected to be sworn in Monday, but not clear by whom. Both were approved unanimously by the Senate Monday, May 7, but were awaiting White House paperwork, which has now reportedly ...... Read More
Comments (0)It's Two, Two, Two DeMints In One
As far as broadcaster interests were concerned, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) was playing both the good cop and bad cop at a Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday on the migration of video online.DeMint alone among the senators in attendance pressed Aereo TV investor and acolyte Barry Diller about his service, which broadcasters are essentially unilaterally opposed to. He suggested to Diller that h ...... Read More
Comments (0)Extra, Extra: Newspaper/Broadcast Crossownership Still Relevant!?
Not all newspapers are for removing the ban on newspaper-broadcast crossownerhip, or even loosening it as the FCC has proposed upholding.While the Newspaper Association of America has long advocated for scrapping the ban, and did again in comments this week to the FCC. The NAA says allowing crossownerhip leads to better and more news and is in the public interest. The Association of Free Community ...... Read More
Comments (0)Mr. Copps Takes a Bow
In what was billed as the largest-ever collection of current and former FCC Commissioners, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association Thursday hosted a Minority Media & Telecommunications Council salute to retired Commissioner Michael Copps, who exited the FCC at the end of December. NCTA headquarters was an appropriate venue, since the association is headed by one of Copps’ ...... Read More
Comments (0)Guest Blog: It's Worth It!
A guest blog from Coleman Bazelon, principal of The Brattle Group, Inc. NTIA recently estimated it would cost $18 billion to clear federal spectrum users from 95 MHz of prime spectrum to make the frequencies available for wireless broadband. This is a bargain. According to NTIA’s report, $18 billion would completely free up the entire 1755 MHz — 1850 MHz band of prime spe ...... Read More
Comments (0)Point Taken
Andrew Moylan, VP of government affairs for the National Taxpayers Union, points out that plenty of conservatives disagree with the American Conservative Union on what the government should or should not do about retransmission consent. Here is his take. John, I read with interest your story about the American Conservative Union’s odd defense of the federal government’s broken televi ...... Read More
Comments (0)A Spectrum Deal DOJ Is Fine With
The Justice Department may have filed suit against the transfer of spectrum from T-Mobile to AT&T on competition grounds, but it apparently has no problem with the transfer of spectrum from AT&T to T-Mobile as part of the break-up fee over that deal, which Justice helped squelch.The Federal Trade Commission’s “early termination” list Friday, which is a list of deals ov ...... Read More
Comments (0)Ad buying? No, Genius!
Don’t stop me if you have heard this before, because it is my favorite political media time buying story. Newt Gingrich’s avowed plan to buy a half-hour of TV time before the Super Tuesday primary-a-thon next week reminded me of the story of the late Malcolm Forbes when he was running for governor of New Jersey in the 1950’s. Forbes’ campaign decided to buy 24 hours on ...... Read More
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