mediageek

Category: media ownership & consolidation

  • HD/IBOC Radio Pioneer Hears the Call of Interference

    Harry Helms points me to a view on digital/HD/IBOC radio coming from the owner of one of the first stations to start broadcasting in the format, Robert Conrad, president of WCLV-FM, Cleveland: The initial appeal to the consumer was to be improved quality of sound. But, frankly, the difference between a high quality analog signal,…

  • Did Your Rep Sell Out the Internet?

    You might be surprised, though it might not be pleasant. My own Congressional Rep, Tim Johnson voted in favor of the COPE Act (even just hours after having skin cancer surgery). His vote isn’t a surprise, he’s a real milquetoast Republican that tends to sway with the party most of the time. But some Chicagoans…

  • House Sells Out the Internet

    I’ll have my own comments later (have to go back and watch the PVRed proceedings from CSPAN to pick choicer comments for the radioshow), so I leave it to Free Press to tell the story: June 8, 2006 Contact: Jeannine Kenney (202) 238-9249 Ben Scott (202) 265-1490 House Ignores Public, Sells Out the Internet through…

  • Reports and Views on Net Neutrality as the House Debates

    As I write this the House is debating the Markey amendment to add network neutrality protections to the COPE Act. I will bring some clips from this to tomorrow’s radioshow. Today the Washington Post published an Op-Ed from Robert McChesney and Larry Lessig, which breaks down why we need net neutrality in law very simply:…

  • COPE Act on the House Floor Tomorrow — Call Your Rep To Oppose It

    I just got off the phone with the office of Rep. Tim Johnson, my congressperson in the House, asking him to oppose the COPE Act, which goes to the House floor for a vote tomorrow. The COPE act stinks in a variety of ways. First, it would create a national franchise depriving local communities of…

  • News Headlines from the June 2, 2006 Radioshow: New FCC Commissioner Opens Floodgates for Chairman’s Agenda; Senators Urge FCC to Address the Public Interest; FCC Investigates TV Stations Airing Fake News

    These are the news headlines as read on the June 2 edition of the mediageek radioshow: New FCC Commissioner Opens Floodgates for Chairman’s Agenda; Senators Urge FCC to Address the Public Interest; FCC Investigates TV Stations Airing Fake News; Ebay Joins Coalition to Save the Internet (this one actually didn’t make it onto the show).

  • Trouble in the Temples of Christian Broadcasting

    My pal John Anderson was my guest on the radioshow this evening to tell us about the newest dirt on the Calvary Satellite Network, the Clear Channel of Christian broadcasting. It seems that the two principal churches behind the network, the Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls, ID and the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, are…

  • Internet Freedom Fight Brewing in the House

    Today the House Judiciary Committee passed the “Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006,” HR 5417, which offers what SaveTheInternet calls “meaningful protections for Network Neutrality.” All 14 of the committee’s Democrats supported it along with 6 Republicans. 13 Republicans voted against it. Today’s vote is shot across the bow in a turf war, as…

  • Telcos Exploiting Their Bully Pulpit

    Just read an interesting anecdote reblogged at SaveTheInternet. Apparently, AT&T’s astroturf group TV 4US is now telemarketing to ask people: “The internet is going to be more expensive, because big companies like Microsoft and Google are wasting all our bandwidth. Do you think consumers should pay for that? Or should the big companies that are…

  • Catching Up with the Radioshow: The Yes Men Spoof Halliburton, Bringing Transmitters to Central America, Musicians Support Internet Freedom

    If you don’t normally listen to the mediageek radioshow, you should consider checking out the last two programs. Yesterday my guests were Bill Taylor and Adrienne Bauer from the Primary Communications Project, talking about their plans to bring a 1 kilowatt AM radio transmitter to the Lenca people of Honduras. I also played part of…