Google Pledges to Spend $4.6 Billion on FCC Auction
Google upped the ante in the high-stakes debate over how the rules should be structured for the upcoming spectrum auction. The Internet company has pledged to "commit a minimum of $4.6 billion to bidding" in the spectrum auction if the Federal Communications Commission agrees to set the rules for the sale so that they are favorable to Google. In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that if the FCC agrees that whoever wins a large chunk of the spectrum in the auction must operate it on a wholesale basis, the company would participate in the auction. Earlier this year, Google put forward a four-point plan, advocating what it called four open-access principles it wants attached to a section of 22 megahertz of the spectrum. The company argued that such conditions are necessary to give a new competitor a leg up in entering the broadband market, which is dominated by the large telephone and cable companies. So far, Mr. Martin has come halfway, proposing that the spectrum have two of the four conditions attached. But crucially, he has not agreed to the wholesale condition, which Google views as being a deal breaker for it. There is nothing preventing any company from operating spectrum it controls on a wholesale basis. Google and other hi-tech companies such as eBay Inc.'s Internet-based phone service Skype have argued that without such a condition, however, potential new entrants to the broadband market would be outbid for the spectrum by incumbents such as Verizon Communications and AT&T.

US patent reform clears House hurdle
A proposed law revolutionising US patent legislation has passed through a vital committee of the House of Representatives. The bill has got further than previous attempts at such reform. If enacted, the bill would change the way that patent damages are calculated and would bring the way in which US patents are awarded into line with most other countries. The US currently awards patents to the first person to invent something. The new law would award a patent to the first person to file for one in relation to an invention, which is the more common method internationally. Patent reform advocates claim this will prevent difficult arguments over who was first to invent something in favour of easier-to-settle arguments over who was first to file a patent for the invention. The bill was changed in the committee process to add more powers for an inventor to challenge a patent on the basis that it had been misappropriated from him. The change to the way in which damages are calculated will mean that a court should only consider the value which a patent brought to an invention rather than consider the entire market value of an invention. Companies in the technology sector in particular have lobbied extensively for the changes, claiming that large patent awards to litigants increased the costs of running patent-reliant technology companies. The new proposed law also includes provisions for an early-stage, non-judicial mediation body and a limit to the circumstances in which an infringement is designated "wilful". Wilful damage incurs three times the damages awarded in patent cases.

Verizon Wireless and Broadcom in Deal
Verizon Wireless will pay the Broadcom Corporation as much as $200 million to bypass a possible ban on some handsets that use Qualcomm chips. The agreement will give Verizon Wireless the right to use a patent found to have been infringed by Qualcomm, the companies said in a statement yesterday. Verizon Communications and the Vodafone Group jointly own Verizon Wireless. Broadcom won a trade ruling last month against Qualcomm in its bid to prevent phone companies from using the chips, which allow phones to surf the Internet and download video, without paying royalties. The agreement allows Verizon to introduce the latest mobile phones and hands Qualcomm another setback in its two-year dispute over the technology. Verizon is paying $6 a handset, to a maximum of $200 million. Broadcom offered similar terms to Qualcomm last month to settle their dispute. Qualcomm rejected the offer. The federal International Trade Commission approved the ban in June. Verizon Wireless will cease its efforts to overturn the ban and will withdraw its motion for a stay from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to the statement.

Newspaper publishers see big declines in advertising
Newspaper publishers reported sharply lower advertising revenues for the second quarter on Thursday, and two of them laid part of the blame on a drop-off in real estate advertising in key markets. McClatchy and Media General both reported steep advertising declines and lower profits, while Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and the target of an acquisition bid by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., had lower profit because of a charge but higher revenue and operating income. McClatchy, which owns The Miami Herald and several newspapers in California, including The Sacramento Bee and The Fresno Bee, had a 9.8% decline in advertising revenue across its 31 newspapers, with the biggest drops coming in Florida and California. McClatchy is the country's third-largest newspaper company, behind Gannett and Tribune McClatchy attributed much of the weakness in those markets to economic factors including the slowdown in the formerly hot housing sector. With real estate playing a key part of the local economies, other ad categories such as autos and employment also sagged. Media General, a regional publisher based in Richmond, Va., had an 11% decline in advertising, including sharply lower results at The Tampa Tribune newspaper, which reported a 36.7% drop-off in classified advertising.

Backlash Against Fox
Twentieth Century Fox is on the edge of an Internet publicity crisis. It's Day 10 of the Chicago Film Critics Assn. boycott on all Fox and Fox Searchlight films, a protest against the studio's practice of limiting online critics' access to screenings. Now critics all over the country are coming forward to echo their complaints and promise solidarity, revealing a simmering hostility between studios and many online journalists. Critics in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Texas, and several cities in Florida answered Chicago's call for support. And, like Chicago critics, some have promised to cancel publicity interviews for the Fox Searchlight film "Sunshine," opening nationwide July 27. Fox publicity executives were considering a proposal Thursday from the Chicago Film Critics Assn. that outlined its concerns and offered some solutions, said Dan Gire, the group's president. He didn't give specifics but said an agreement between the studio and his 59-member group was imminent. Fox publicity did not respond to requests for comment. The studio "is dividing people into print, broadcast and online media, and at this point, we're all online critics," said Gire, film critic at the Chicago Daily Herald. "The moment I generate something for print, before the ink has dried — boom! — it's on the Internet. The distinction has evaporated and [Fox is] clinging to this old model of business." So-called cowboy critics, who ignore studio-issued embargoes on reviews and articles, are forcing changes in long-standing studio-journalist protocol. For decades, reporters would get early access to film screenings and talent by agreeing to hold reviews and articles until the release date. But competition among journalists covering Hollywood grows fiercer by the day.

1 in 25 youths asked for sex pics
4% of American youths online have been asked to send a sexually explicit photo of themselves over the Internet, researchers say in a new study. Of the 65 youths in the study who reported receiving a request, only one actually complied. But researchers say that's still a troubling number: With millions of youths online, that projects to potentially thousands across the country. The study, based on telephone surveys of 1,500 Internet users ages 10 to 17, was being published Friday in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5% points. Earlier, the same researchers suggested that warning children against posting their personal information online doesn't necessarily make them safer from predators and related threats. The researchers found no evidence that sharing personal information increases the chances of online victimization, such as unwanted sexual solicitation and harassment. In the latest study, the researchers identified certain traits as making a youth prone to receive a request for a sexual picture. They include having a close relationship with someone known only online; talking with someone online about sex or having a sexually suggestive screen name; and experiencing physical or sexual abuse offline. Researchers also found that requests were more likely to occur when youths were with their friends.

Sports Marketing Is a Whole New Ball Game
Wait for a TV newscast to see if your favorite team won or lost? Na-a-a-ah! Go online and find out now. Although television continues to dominate — as both a distribution platform for sports content and an advertising medium for marketers who attach their brands to sports properties — online and mobile platforms are quickly evolving and becoming an important part of the media and marketing mix. eMarketer estimates that US advertising spending at sports-related Web sites will grow from $407 million in 2006 to reach $1.1 billion in 2011. As a percentage of overall sports advertising, the Internet's share will double to 10% by 2011, up from 4.9% in 2006. As Internet sports advertising grows in dollar volume and as a percentage of overall sports advertising, US advertising professionals are taking note of the favorable climate toward ad-supported sports sites. According to a January 2007 Adweek poll, sports ranked second — behind celebrities — as the best subject matter for an ad-supported Web site.

Qualcomm Setback in Europe
Qualcomm Inc.'s efforts to sell its mobile TV technology in Europe suffered a blow on Wednesday with the European Commission's indication that it will potentially forbid the use of the U.S. company's system. The Commission said that it favors the use of a single mobile TV standard across Europe and that if necessary will mandate one. If it does decide to choose a single technology, the Commission will likely pick DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld), a standard that competes with Qualcomm mobile TV technology MediaFlo, it said. "Currently in Europe, there is a risk of market fragmentation as there are several mobile TV technologies for different platforms," the Commission wrote in an FAQ about the report. DVB-H is the strongest contender for mobile TV, the Commission said, with about 40 worldwide pilots of the technology completed or in process. "The Commission therefore considers that DVB-H will form the basis for successful introduction and take-up of terrestrial mobile TV services in the E.U. It will continue to monitor the situation in the E.U. and may come forward with proposals in 2008 including, if appropriate, making this open standard mandatory," the Commission said.

Asia storms ahead in fiber-to-the-home
Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan are the world leaders in connecting homes via fibre optics, according to a global ranking of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) market penetration. The ranking was issued jointly by the FTTH councils of Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.  The first official ranking of FTTH deployments in the world's economies found that 21.2% of homes in Hong Kong are wired with FTTH, followed by South Korea at 19.6% and Japan at 16.3%. Scandinavian countries occupy the next three positions, with Sweden at 7.2%, Denmark at 2.9% and Norway at 2.5%. Taiwan, Italy, China, The Netherlands and the US round out the top 11 economies, with penetration rates of between 1.4 and 1%. The three regional FTTH councils joined together to create the ranking to provide the telecoms industry, governments and regulators with a unique snapshot of international fibre access penetration. information.

Average user rating

   (0 vote)