mediageek

Month: July 2005

  • Easy Web Video Publishing

    Steev points out two good open source web applications–Broadcast Machine and Osprey–for easily uploading and sharing video, either by downloading directly from a server or with BitTorrent. I’m interested in this not just because of its obvious use for independent media, but also because I’m trying to set up a video portal at work, so…

  • It’s Not About Choice Alone, but How Many Choices; or, Is There Truth in Legislation Naming?

    Media Access Project’s Howard Feld give us his assessment of the so-called “Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act” recently introduced into Congress: I’ve just read through the “Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act” (72-page pdf available here) introduced by Senator Ensign (R-NV) (and co-sponsored by Senator McCain, to my intense disappointment). In the name of…

  • Don’t Be Cowed By Romanticized History

    I’ve often heard activists and independent media makers express a sense of inadequacy or longing for a time or place other than now and here, stemming from the belief that it was better then or is better elsewhere. I addressed that sense of geographical inadequacy in a piece called “The Sense of Place” in mediageek…

  • Payola Investigation Could Be Leverage for Action on Consolidation, but It Will Take a Lot of Force

    According to Broadcasting and Cable (sorry, no free story beyond the summary), Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold connected the dots between radio payola, as being investigated by the NY attorney general. Of course, he’s suggesting legislation, perhaps similar to the “Competition in Radio and Concert Industries Act,” he introduced in 2003. Similar to the media reform…

  • Radioshow News Headlines from July 22:

    These are the news headlines as read on the July 22 edition of the mediageek radioshow: Rep. Hinchey Introduces Sweeping Media Reform Bill; Hinchey also goes to bat for wi-fi.

  • Shot Across the Bow Against Payola in NY

    Payola–so-called “pay for play”–still exists in radio. While it was straigtforward in rock’s early days in the 50s, now it’s sheathed in the guise of “independent consultants” who get songs “placed” on major (and minor) radio stations using moneys given to stations for “promotional expenses.” Those “independent consultants” are then paid by the major labels,…

  • P2P TV

    infoAnarchy–which has been pretty slow to post new material as of late–features a short article on opern-source peer-to-peer based video broadcasting platforms. I haven’t tried any of them, but could be worth a shot. Video is bandwidth intensive and hosting anything that gets a lot of hits can get expensive fast.

  • V-Man Interviews FRSD’s Bob Ugly on FCC Raid

    V-Man from Free Radio Santa Cruz interviewed Free Radio San Diego founder Bob Ugly today. There aren’t too many other details about the raid, since nobody was at the station. But it’s interesting to hear Bob’s reaction — he says they were pretty much expecting the raid, though we don’t know if there was any…

  • Free Radio San Diego Raided by FCC

    And so another high-profile pirate meets the FCC, along with federal marshals. According to Free Radio San Diego’s website and a post to SD-IMC, the station was raided this morning. Details are few at the moment, but nobody was at the station at the time, and apparently the feds “broke the locks on their doors,…

  • Frontiers in Indy TV

    Rabble considers the future of pan-national television, by way of noting that a new Central and South American-based television network, TeleSur, is about to go live on July 24. Rabble’s big question is: how “to bridge these more high budget TV networks with real bottom up technology to restructure how we think of and view…