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Multichannel News Bureau Chief John Eggerton weighs in on Washington
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
Comments (0)Guest Blog: Allocate the D-Block
A guest blog from David Paulison, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 2005 to 2009. He is currently for senior partner with consulting firm Global Emergency Solutions. I write to offer a different opinion to Chairman Greg Walden’s (R-Ore) op-ed on the spectrum auction of D-block. Some key factors were overlooked in Mr. Walden’s argument. The Congre ...... Read More
Comments (0)Approval, Of Portion, of Net Neutrality Rules To Be Published...We Think
The seemingly endless paperwork of getting the FCC’s network neutrality rules into effect is almost over, but not quite.According to the FCC, look for the Federal Register Wednesday (Sept. 21) to publish the Office of Management and Budget’s approval of the paperwork-related portions of the new rules, which were adopted by the FCC last December but have yet to go into effect. Any rul ...... Read More
Comments (0)Names
I was proud to be a journalist covering television Sunday. The TV and radio coverage of the 9/11 memorial services In New York and Washington and Shanksville, Pa., was as diverse and moving as the names being read at Ground Zero, an honor roll but also families talking directly to their loved ones, a father who loved Gummy bears, a son that the world had seen as a single person, but for whose moth ...... Read More
Comments (1)Could Wet Courts Be Watershed for Tennis Players
The waterlogged U.S. Open Tennis Championships on ESPN2 Wednesday actually made for some compelling TV in spite of the rain that kept players off the courts for all but about 15 minutes. Those 15 minutes or so, when some players felt they were pushed onto courts too slick for safe play, prompted complaints from some top players, including Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick, that tournament pressure to ...... Read More
Comments (1)President Pays Vineyard Visit To Comcast's Roberts
President Barack Obama attended a reception at the home of Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts Sunday night (Aug. 21), according to various reports confirmed by a White House spokesperson. A Comcast spokesperson referred us to the White House for details, but the White House was not commenting on the visit, referring B&C/Multi to pool reports the White House had circulated to the general press list ...... Read More
Comments (0)Happy 15th, MSNBC
Comcast/NBCU bigwigs hosted a reception Thursday night in their new combined digs a Peacock’s flit from the Capitol, The event was the 15th anniversary of the cable network.Amidst the circulating trays of sushi, chips and guacamole and croquette of grilled cheese sandwich (seriously, and prettygood), company execs, Washington attorneys, former policymakers (Blair Levin for one), and ion-sta ...... Read More
Comments (0)Baker Said To Be Exiting FCC for Comcast/NBCU
Republican FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker is expected to announce she is leaving the FCC for a post at Comcast/NBCU, according to a source familiar with the planned move, which could be announced as early as today. The NBC side has an opening with the departure of Bob Okun, longtime head of the Washington office, who is exiting later this summer, while on the Comcast side, Joe Waz, SVP, e ...... Read More
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