FCC STILL DIVIDED ON CONTENT REGULATION, NAB IS TOLD

There are “real links” between TV violence and real violence, Friedman said, but Ben Golant, aide to outgoing Comr. Furchtgott- Roth, said studies weren’t “conclusive. Ness aide David Goodfriend said even though govt. shouldn’t get directly involved, it’s “important not to hide behind sociological studies or legal parsing” on TV violence. He said broadcasters should engage in “collective citizenship.” In time that FCC spends on determining whether “anatomical references cross the line” in indecency cases, child can watch “15 more murders” on TV.

Referring to Supreme Court decision allowing regulation of indecency, Golant said “it’s time to say Red Lion [case] is a Dead Lion.” Regulation of broadcast content should at least be subjected to intermediate scrutiny based on First Amendment, and possibly even stricter scrutiny, he said. Friedman said Red Lion wasn’t even appropriate because content regulation wasn’t based on spectrum scarcity but on “invasive nature” of broadcast medium and its impact on children. However, Golant said emergence of broadcast competitors such as cable and DBS meant broadcasting was “just another program service… It sends shivers down my spine that the government could make decisions on content.” Susan Eid, aide to FCC Chmn. Powell, agreed it’s “scary” to have 3 appointed FCC commissioners defining community standards throughout country.

Role of broadcasting in environment of diverse media delivery systems is “an issue that the Commission needs to look at,” Eid said. “The business model has changed.” She said, however, that fact that 85% of households have access to multichannel delivery systems instead of relying only on broadcast is only one factor to consider when looking at broadcast ownership, public interest and other issues. Golant said diversity of broadcast ownership was “a 20th Century concept.” With cable, DBS and Internet, he said, “it’s time to move on.” But Friedman said FCC shouldn’t “give up on the idea” of mass media.

Eid said broadcast ownership cap probably would be part of next biennial review of broadcast rules, which probably would begin by end of year. Goodfriend said decision in Time Warner case on cable ownership caps didn’t necessarily invalidate broadcast caps, since court decided only that FCC had to conduct “rigorous economic analysis” to justify caps. He said there still was public need for diversity of ownership of national resource as scarce as spectrum. -- Michael Feazel

NAB Notebook..

Rep. Harman (D-Cal.) said position of Sen. Lieberman (D- Conn.) on regulation of entertainment content is “troubling” and will face congressional opposition from staunch defenders of First Amendment rights. “I think the right approach is [industry] self- regulation,” she said Sun. in presentation at NAB convention. Senate staffer said in phone interview that Lieberman in very near future would introduce bill to give FTC enforcement powers to contend with movie and videogame companies that fraudulently market products as appropriate for minors despite containing violent content. Staffer acknowledged FTC already had authority to take action against misleading and fraudulent marketing claims, but said existing regulatory language made it difficult for agency to intervene when entertainment companies were involved. Despite opposition to such measures by Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.), he said Lieberman expected to gain support from members following FTC’s expected release this week of Phase 2 report on entertainment industry’s self-regulatory efforts, which staffer said had been deficient. Unrelated to Lieberman position, Harman, recent addition to House Commerce Committee, described Congress as “analog place with a few digital members.” She called on industry to educate members of Congress on technology and encourage centrist approach to regulatory policy. “The goal is to create more digital-savvy members and to bring us to the center,” she said. She said Telecom Act provided “careful balance” for communications policy and cautioned against revisiting 1996 Telecom Act to unleash Bell companies on market. Broadband deregulation bill, introduced last year as HR-2420 by House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.), “could disturb that balance at our peril,” Harman said. She said Tauzin-Dingell supporters’ argument that bill would bolster broadband market without affecting Act’s market- opening provisions for voice services was “artful way” of describing how it would benefit “baby Bells, who are hardly babies any more.” - SP

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Failure of NBC and Disney Internet portals doesn’t mean Internet doesn’t work, speakers said at NAB convention in Las Vegas Sun. NBC and Disney “executed poorly on a grand scale,” said Myer Berlow, AOL pres.-interactive mktg.: “They thought that because they are so big and powerful, they didn’t have to execute well.” David Moore, CEO of 24/7 Media, agreed that networks expected their Internet properties to grow faster in Internet “go- go years… Internet advertising is not easy, not something that you can do overnight.” Broadcasters “actually hoped the Internet wouldn’t succeed because all their revenue comes from the other side,” Berlow said: “This doesn’t prove anything except that they failed.” He said there were very few examples of one medium’s moving successfully into another, and Internet companies had better chance because of their “single-minded focus” on Internet. Local TV stations still have good opportunity in Internet because of their large amount of local content, said Mark Zagorski, exec. vp of WorldNow. He said Internet ads worked best as part of advertising package that includes broadcasting to drive viewers to Web sites. Moore agreed that when TV and Internet were combined, result was “really more compelling than either alone.” However, Frank Magid Assoc. Exec. Vp Maryann Schulze said broadcasters needed to re-learn how to experiment. She said stations too often had used their ad time to drive viewers to Web sites with no compelling content, so viewers didn’t go back: “Stations have still got a long way to go.” Web also has to develop new ad models, speakers said. Banner ads are “essentially a brain-dead concept,” Berlow said, and “fundamentally at odds with the reasons consumers are there” on Web. He said Internet still hadn’t had enough time to develop fully successful ad concepts, but they should be based on integrating useful marketing information into content that Web users are seeking anyway. -- MF

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Zenith announced series of enhancements to its VSB modulation scheme for DTV, called “E-VSB.” E-VSB trades lower DTV data rate for additional signal robustness, much like competing COFDM modulation does. As result, Zenith said, VSB modulation can be easier to receive indoors and in mobile applications. It said E- VSB would be fully compatible with full-data-rate VSB and wouldn’t require modifications to FCC’s emission standard. Advanced TV Systems Committee, which sets U.S. DTV standard, has set up subgroup to explore VSB enhancements. Zenith also announced new line of DTV translators designed to relay DTV signals to fringe areas that station’s main DTV signal can’t reach.

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Mindport will partner with PacketVideo to provide digital rights management (DRM) technology for wireless distribution of content, companies said. They said DRM would make it easier for all participants in content delivery to realize revenue from protected rich media content. Technology has been optimized for MPEG-4, they said.

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Human attention is becoming scarce economic resource because of proliferation of media, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said in report released here. Proliferation means that “content developers… who try to maintain a more traditional approach will always be left behind,” said author Saul Berman of PWC. It also means it will become more difficult to create mass audience, he said.

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GeoVideo will use AT&T’s ATM service to provide capacity for its commercial IP-enabled virtual private network for video applications up to HDTV quality, companies said. GeoVideo said offering would target business and professional media applications.

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Harris Corp. will license iBiquity’s in-band, on-channel digital audio broadcasting (DAB) technology for use in its broadcast transmitters, companies said. Technology will be integrated into new line of transmitters and exciters to be rolled out next year, Harris said. Ibiquity also said Impulse Radio was developing wireless data applications based on iBiquity technology.

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AP said more than 50 additional broadcast stations had selected its Electronic News Production System as core of their newsroom operations, increasing total to more than 340 newsrooms in 32 countries. Among latest broadcast groups are Emmis, Fisher Bcstg., Hearst-Argyle TV, Raycom, Sunrise TV. AP also said Time Warner’s local cable news channels and Orange County (Cal.) Newschannel would use system.

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Freedom Forum hosted “Freedom Sings” session Sat. night in Las Vegas putting spotlight on song lyrics that have been censored -- starting with song censored in 1737 because it criticized gov. of N.Y. From more recent era, trio performed Elvis Presley’s “Rock All Your Blues Away” from 1954 and 1955’s “Annie Had a Baby -- She Can’t Work No More,” which was censored as “race music.” Other censored songs performed included “Louie, Louie” and “Goddamn the Pusher.” To open session, Hall of Fame musician Paul Kantner said of his group: “We've never had the problem of free speech… We just go out and do what we want to do… We just set out to play music.” As for criticisms of song lyrics by govt. officials and others -- such as Tipper Gore --Kantner said: “We couldn’t personally hire better PR.” Several words from George Carlin’s famous 1970s record album routine “Seven Dirty Words You'll Never Hear on Television” were spoken during program. Session, one of series sponsored by Forum, concluded with performance by Jefferson Starship.

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Nationwide campaign to promote sale of DTV sets will be started in fall in joint effort by NAB and CEA, groups announced at news conference Sun. Campaign will combine print and broadcast advertising and seek participation by local TV stations and retailers to raise “the [public] awareness of the products and programming options for digital television,” Assns. said. “This effort will both educate consumers… and serve as a reminder that DTV’s time has come,” NAB Pres. Edward Fritts said. CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro said research “shows us that consumers are excited about DTV, they want to buy DTV and they want to know what DTV programs are available in their area.” In answer to question, Fritts said budget for campaign hadn’t been set and that ad agency hadn’t been selected. He said NAB had provided “seed money” to start campaign in selected markets that hadn’t been chosen, with effort to go nationwide in 2002.