Capital Letters
Multichannel News Bureau Chief John Eggerton weighs in on Washington
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 (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-S.C.) 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 his ...... Read More
Comments (0)Netflix Founder Hastings on Comcast Xbox Policy: 'In What Way is This Neutral?'
Netflix founder Reed Hastings vented on his Facebook page Sunday about Comcast’s policy of not counting xBox video VOD downloads toward its usage caps, while applying downloads of other services like, well, Netflix. “Comcast [is] no longer following net neutrality principles,” he wrote. “Comcast should apply caps equally, or not at all. I spent the weekend enjoying four ...... Read More
Comments (0)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 agency at the end of December. NCTA headquarters was an appropriate venue, since the association is headed by one of Copps ...... 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)Gergen Keeps Me Coming Back to CNN
Essentially wedded to CNN coverage of the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night by reception troubles on other cable news channels on my cable system and pixelated coverage of the Sugar Bowl, I was reminded why I often gravitate to that channel anyway come election night. No, it is not political, or even my fondness for the fleet fingers of John King and his magic graphics manipulation. It is instead for th ...... Read More
Comments (0)C-SPAN: Don't Kill TV Messenger
A C-SPAN spokesperson said the Twittersphere lit up Wednesday–after House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the plug had been pulled on TV coverage Wednesday after the Republican acting speaker walked out. Some of that Twitter reaction was seeking answers from C-SPAN on why it pulled the plug. It didn’t.”It was not us,” said the spokesman. “We take a direc ...... Read More
Comments (0)Was That Julius Genachowski or Julius Marx?
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski skewered friend and foe alike at a banquet Thursday during a stand-up routine that included a bleeped F-word from his chief of staff, clips from South Park, and words he said the Third Circuit court found indecent. And that was just for appetizers. The decibel level in a roomful of lawyers is akin to that on the tarmac of a major airport. Such was the cacophony Thur ...... Read More
Comments (0)JOBS Bill
There were rumblings around D.C. Friday that the Republicans want to attach the just-passed-out-of-subcommittee spectrum bill, the JOBS (Jumpstarting Our Broadband Spectrum) Act, to some must pass end-of-year legislation, using the $15 billion for deficit reduction as an offset, perhas for payroll tax extension. If so they would likely have to jettison the amendment on auction conditions and maybe ...... Read More
Comments (0)Mixed Signals
At least in Washington, the FCC’s coordinated national test of the Emergency Alert System at 2 p.m. Wednesday seemed to be all over the map. Of course, the test was an effort to reveal any issues, and it may have.Unless I had my mute button on, I did not hear the tone when I tuned to the test on one channel. And the alert had must have already ended on WRC, though one viewer said they had s ...... Read More
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