Free Press Newswire

Los Angeles may be hemorrhaging red ink, but "if it bleeds it leads' doesn't apply to news coverage of its fiscal woes. Though crime led local TV news in Los Angeles on one out of three broadcasts, stories about L.A.'s budget crisis topped local news only one time out of 100, according to a new report.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's recently called for identifing new spectrum for mobile broadband. His proposal was to "buy back" licenses from broadcasters. This implies that broadcasters own those licenses and even paid for them. Like any other radio frequency license, broadcast licenses are owned by the people and held in public trust by the licensees. So what exactly are we compensating them for?

Sporting a logo of the Comcast "C" devouring the NBC Peacock, Free Press was circulated an e-mail calling on its members to ask their Senator to block the deal.

A member of the FCC blasted Internet service providers for raising prices for some of its broadband services recently, just as the agency attempts to bring more affordable access to U.S. households.

Among those who care about serious journalism, some are counting on an economic comeback that will bring sufficient advertising back to newspapers and Web sites to support quality reporting; others bet on the evolution of pay walls and a public that will change course and learn to buy news content. But what if none of these things work? What is left?

Saying the Supreme Court's decision "turns the idea of government of, by and for the people on its head," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) held a hearing on the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizen's United case.

Regulating big consumer issues such as the availability of Internet apps on mobile devices and metered broadband are outside the FCC's authority, said Kevin Martin, the former FCC chairman.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee passed the spectrum inventory bill by voice vote with an amendment that lengthens from two to four years the time in which the FCC and the NTIA are required to make recommendations to Congress about spectrum reallocation or sharing. It also puts more emphasis on looking beyond the broadcast band to other spectrum.

Laying more fiber is one way to make more efficient use of wireless spectrum, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said. "A significant amount of mobile broadband activity actually occurs indoors," Martin said. "That should be gotten off-Net quicker."

THERE are certain timeless truths about people who don't own a television, chief among them that they love to tell you they don't own a television. These days, they are still out there, but they have rivals in the realm of zealotry: people who do watch television -- sometimes plenty of it -- but don’'t own a cable box.

Strip away the technical jargon of Net Neutrality and it becomes about whether people have the right to talk to one another, write to one another and organize politically without the interference of large corporations.

The American Association of Independent Music filed a statement with the FCC supporting Net Neutrality. The statement highlights the unique economic needs of the independent music community and the need to balance access versus the need to eliminate illegal acquisition of music.

The click squawk 28.8 modem era has been replaced by the always on broadband of today, but the underlying Internet infrastructure is a battleground behind the scenes of phone and cable company lobbyists attempting to dismantle open standards and Net Neutrality.

Three individuals have pleaded guilty in a federal court to scamming the FCC out of over $2.5 million with organizations they owned that were designed to help people with hearing impairments.

Springfield, Mo. may be one step closer to becoming a Google test city for fiber-optic Internet service after the City Council endorsed an application. But a similar system already in place at a city hosptial shows the potential impact that faster Internet speeds offer.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee will hold a markup March 10 on the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act. That is the bill that gives the FCC and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration a year to inventory spectrum in commercial and government hands and to evaluate how efficiently it is being used.

Google is testing a new TV-programming search service with Dish Network, the latest development in a fast-moving race to combine Internet content with conventional TV.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan compared broadband expansion in the United States to the development of the interstate highway system under President Eisenhower. Donovan urged the government to work across departments, and with public and private organizations, to help connect all Americans.

Comcast's plan to raise rates for its Internet service could have had better timing. The hike, set for April 1, comes just as the FCC is about to release its National Broadband Plan on March 17.

The implications of a national free wireless network are significant -- if the agency aims high. Or it could be flop. Under chairman Kevin Martin, the FCC tried something similar -- but the plan never got off the ground. The agency said the recommendation in the national broadband plan will be different from that recommended by Martin's FCC.