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Today's Topics:
1. Chairman Inouye Introduces Broadband Data Bill (George Antunes)
2. No Texas-Sized Rate Declines in Texas (George Antunes)
3. Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist (Monty Solomon)
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 11:54:54 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Chairman Inouye Introduces Broadband Data Bill
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Inouye Introduces Broadband Data Bill
By John Eggerton
Broadcasting & Cable
5/24/2007 11:06:00 AM
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6446448.html?rssid=193
A Senate bill has been introduced that would require the FCC to collect
better data on the rollout of broadband.
Introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, the
Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492, though there were no Columbus
analogies invoked) would take several steps. Among other things, the bill
would require the FCC to reconsider its current 200 kilobit broadband
standard (many argue that is too slow a speed to be counted), create a new
"second generation broadband figure for speeds capable of delivering HD
video, require the FCC to report broadband availability by nine-digit zip
codes so that it could more precisely pinpoint who was and wasn't getting
the service, and require an annual, rather than periodic, inquiry into
deployment.
The bill would also provide $40 million in yearly grants to match state
investment in identifying barriers to broadband adoption.
"It is imperative that we get our broadband house in order and our
communications policy right," said Inouye in announcing the bill. "But we
cannot manage what we do not measure."
The House last week held a hearing on a draft of a similar bill.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 12:03:37 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] No Texas-Sized Rate Declines in Texas
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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No Texas-Sized Rate Declines in Texas
NATOA's Texas Chapter Finds that Video-Subscription Rates Have Actually Risen
By Linda Haugsted
Multichannel News
5/24/2007 5:11:00 PM
http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6446439
Basic-cable rates have not declined in any of the Texas communities where
there are competitive providers, according to a survey done by the Texas
chapter of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and
Advisors.
Rates for the tier including off-air signals and public, educational and
government channels have actually increased over the past two years,
according to the study posted May 22 on the group's Web site.
The greatest hike, according to the group, was in Denton. There, Charter
Communications raised basic rates from $12.78 per month in 2005 to $19.05
today despite competition from Grande Communications and Verizon
Communications.
However, the arrival of Verizon as a video competitor provided a lower-cost
alternative for consumers of basic and expanded-basic services. According
to the survey, the disparity in rates was greatest in Southlake, where
Verizon charges $34.95 for what it terms standard service, compared with
$48.99 charged for the same type of service level from Charter, a 27%
difference. (Municipal officials used the tier terms utilized by the
providers, noting that the number and type of video channels in that level
may be different provider to provider.)
NATOA members were prompted to begin tracking rates after a Federal
Communications Commission meeting that was held in Keller, Texas, in
February 2006, explained Margaret Somereve, assistant to the director of
public works for Farmers Branch, Texas, and the NATOA chapter president.
Testimony at the hearing tossed out figures of rates 25%-45% lower in Texas
due to the passage of the nation's first franchise reform bill, SB5, in
September 2005, Somereve said, adding that NATOA members "knew there was no
such decrease, but we had to get hard facts together."
Civic officials nationally have criticized rate-decrease claims, such as
those stated in a January 2007 Bank of America Equity Research report. That
report quoted double-digit rate drops in Texas competitive markets, and the
figures have been used in testimony in several states to buttress support
for franchise-reform bills.
Civic officials countered that such figures are based on short-term,
nonpublished special [teaser] acquisition rates. The rates in the Texas
study reflect regular, published video-subscription rates that consumers
will pay long-term, NATOA officials said.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 22:53:00 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist
By CHARLES DUHIGG
The New York Times
May 20, 2007
The thieves operated from small offices in Toronto and hangar-size
rooms in India. Every night, working from lists of names and phone
numbers, they called World War II veterans, retired schoolteachers
and thousands of other elderly Americans and posed as government and
insurance workers updating their files.
Then, the criminals emptied their victims' bank accounts.
Richard Guthrie, a 92-year-old Army veteran, was one of those
victims. He ended up on scam artists' lists because his name, like
millions of others, was sold by large companies to telemarketing
criminals, who then turned to major banks to steal his life's savings.
Mr. Guthrie, who lives in Iowa, had entered a few sweepstakes that
caused his name to appear in a database advertised by infoUSA, one of
the largest compilers of consumer information. InfoUSA sold his name,
and data on scores of other elderly Americans, to known lawbreakers,
regulators say.
InfoUSA advertised lists of "Elderly Opportunity Seekers," 3.3
million older people "looking for ways to make money," and "Suffering
Seniors," 4.7 million people with cancer or Alzheimer's disease.
"Oldies but Goodies" contained 500,000 gamblers over 55 years old,
for 8.5 cents apiece. One list said: "These people are gullible. They
want to believe that their luck can change."
As Mr. Guthrie sat home alone - surrounded by his Purple Heart medal,
photos of eight children and mementos of a wife who was buried nine
years earlier - the telephone rang day and night. After criminals
tricked him into revealing his banking information, they went to
Wachovia, the nation's fourth-largest bank, and raided his account,
according to banking records.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/business/20tele.html?ex=1337313600&en=38f9ae54aac348d4&ei=5090
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End of Medianews Digest, Vol 274, Issue 1
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