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By Multichannel News Staff -- Multichannel News, 3/23/2009 2:00:00 AM
With Stimulus, Keep Local Needs in Mind
(RE: “Private Companies Should Be Allowed to Apply for Broadband Stimulus Funding,” March 17): “The scales should tilt heavily towards local government partnerships with service providers and vendors in order to ensure that the networks that get built address the needs of the local community and local stakeholders. The incumbents are selling services that often are not be fast enough, efficient enough or affordable relative to the price they want to charge and the speeds they deliver, and thus are unable to address economic development, new business attraction, healthcare delivery, education reform and a host of other real needs. Let local communities define their needs, and let them select which partners they want to work with. … Why should NTIA and [Rural Utilities Service] let history repeat itself by turning money over to incumbents? The incumbents aren't the only game in town, and the free world will not collapse into Armageddon when local governments and local providers create successful networks.”
Craig Settles AnalystOakland, Calif.
Congress Behind Curve On Media Consolidation
(RE: “Pelosi Asks Justice to Take Broader View of Competitive Landscape,” Multichannel.com, March 17): “[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi is right — and about five years late. Where was she when the FCC was proposing modest steps to let old media reorganize and conserve resources while they retooled to battle emerging Internet-based media? Democrats like Pelosi bear the burden of explaining why their beloved news sources are now going out of business. … Congress is usually about 10 years behind reality on this media stuff. They still think AOL dominates the Internet. …Yes, old media used to dominate, but they don't anymore. Keep regulating them like dominant gatekeepers and you'll get what you deserve — no gatekeepers at all.”
Alec Berg New York
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