OECD Discord to the Tune of 'Martin Seoul'

Fifty-five years of peace on the Korean peninsula suffered a minor setback last week after Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin landed in Seoul for a two-day ministerial session of the 30-country Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

According to a published report, Martin held a press conference that U.S. Embassy officials limited to U.S. media outlets, angering an excluded journalist with the Korean Times.

Reporter Cho Jin-seo described Martin's press conference as “a back-door meeting” planned by the FCC, and “officials from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul blocked access to reporters from other countries.”

Cho anonymously quoted an OECD official on the press management ways of U.S. government officials in other parts of the world.

“They are Americans,'' the OECD official said. “They do that in Paris, too.” OECD is based in Paris.

Cho wrapped up his dispatch by saying an unnamed U.S. Embassy official apologized for any “impoliteness” shown to excluded reporters.

Martin's visit to South Korea was the first leg in a two-week Asia tour that includes meetings in Beijing, China, and Singapore, an FCC official said.

Evidently, Martin decided that a lengthy overseas trip was a better use of his time than traveling the U.S. to promote the national transition to digital television on Feb. 17, 2009. An FCC spokesperson said Martin still had plenty of time left to devote to DTV issues.

'Project Callus' On the Klum-way

Cable hit the jackpot at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards last Monday, with 10 of its shows walking off with the prestigious accolades.

Cable winners included Discovery Channel's Planet Earth, AMC's Mad Men and Bravo's Project Runway.

As Project Runway producer Harvey Weinstein took to the stage, he invited the rest of the show's participants to join him, including a reluctant Heidi Klum, the show's supermodel host. When Klum finally made her way to the podium, she blamed her footwear for her initial reluctance to go onstage.

“It's not that I didn't want to come, but these shoes are just built for sitting, not walking,” said Klum, who was wearing sky-high black shoes.

She apparently wasn't kidding about the spikes bothering her feet. Later that night, at a celebration party Project Runway held at a local hot spot, Klum swapped shoes with actor-comedian Mike Myers, who was in town to promote his new movie The Love Guru. Two Big Apple tabloids ran a photo of Myers — with his pants legs rolled up — teetering on Klum's platform-stilettos, while Klum was wearing his Oxfords.

Time (Capsule) WarnerVaults Into the Future

When a new building goes up, designers often think about its place in history, adding a date-stamped keystone or a time capsule. The designers of a new, 160,000-sq. ft. headquarters building for Time Warner Cable's East Carolina division were no different.

When ground was broken for the $35 million structure June 17, executives created a little vault of history, to be cracked open in 20 years. But, in a nod to the constant changes in technology, the items included are bits of technology and policy that the workers believe will be obsolete in two decades.

Included are a technician's uniform, a picture of a current service van, some fiber, a hand-held meter, a DVR, a remote control, a DTV converter, a channel lineup, lists of current HD channels, the top 20 networks, broadcast and cable shows; a local coverage map and a copy of Time Warner's newsletter; and a press release about the new building.