While the story could use more details, this sounds a bit like prior restraint to me.
A New Jersey judge has ordered the shutdown of three H-1B opposition Web sites and seeks information about the identity of anonymous posters.
Media Outlets — learn from other providers!
Media Outlets Prepare to Charge for Content Online – NYTimes.com.
In another story in the “Rupert Murdoch doesn’t get it” category, media sites are increasingly looking at paid models to bolster shrinking revenue streams.
I won’t repeat comments from before, but I’d suggest that media companies could learn a lot from their Web 2.0 peers. For print news, why not give away the beginning of an article for free, and offer complete articles to subscribers. A good story is already composed in an inverted pyramid (no need to change editorially), and sites like Newser show the demand for shortened news. If this were combined with advertising that is correctly targeted for the right audience or locale, it’s hard to see how more people reading news couldn’t turn a profit.
I think “old media” needs a leader to show them how to update their business models to work in the network economy.
Why don’t we get broadcast HD channels on cable/satellite?
Fox’s Fight With Time Warner Sheds Light on Cable Fees – NYTimes.com.
Over the holidays, a friend asked me why we don’t receive the new broadcast HD channels over cable or satellite TV. The article linked above in part offers a peak at the answer.
The short version of the story is, a long time ago when cable was new, broadcasters wanted to charge cable companies to retransmit their signals. At the same time, they wanted to be included in the cable lineup, because they realized that any cable subscriber would potentially miss out on all of their programming. The solution was a quid pro quo or back scratching arrangement, where cable providers retransmit all local television at no cost to the stations.
Now that local stations can transmit multiple signals, with some in HD, the debate is being reopened.
As the article points out:
Some over-the-air stations started to wring fees out of smaller carriers several years ago. For stations, the fees normally amount to nickels, dimes and occasionally quarters for each subscriber each month. But Fox is asking for much more.
The companies declined to comment about the specifics to the negotiations, but people close to the matter confirmed the $1 demand by Fox’s owned and operated stations.
The unfortunate result is that consumers will be the losers in the form of higher fees, or uneven coverage of local channels. The move towards internet-fed television with an antenna for local TV might quicken because of this.
Sneak peek at FCC National Broadband Plan
Sneak peek at FCC National Broadband Plan gets mixed reviews
Good overview of the FCC’s proposed broadband plan. Perhaps most interesting is the recommendation from the Counselor for Communications Policy of the Embassy of Japan, who argues for the unbundling of essential backbone fiber from broadband services.
I think he’s right–this is key to competition and to innovation. Hopefully the FCC will catch up on this point.