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Today's Topics:
1. On this day (Feb 16) (Greg Williams)
2. Digital music sales may be playing a swan song (George Antunes)
3. Update: Delta 2 / THEMIS Upcoming Launch Coverage TONIGHT
(02-17) @3:45pm ET. NASA DVB (Dishnut)
4. AACS: A Tale of Three Keys (Monty Solomon)
5. Inventor of the TV Remote Dies (George Antunes)
6. Driver's License Emerges as Crime-Fighting Tool, but Privacy
Advocates Worry (Monty Solomon)
7. Drive-by Web attack aimed at home routers (Monty Solomon)
8. First look: Apple offers 802.11n, and a wireless wow
(Monty Solomon)
9. Cuba Embraces Open-Source Software (George Antunes)
10. Why is US always last in line for new cell phones?
(George Antunes)
11. Tire Reef Off Florida Proves a Disaster (George Antunes)
12. Will AT&T make acquisitions to rescue its bumpy video effort?
(George Antunes)
13. DirecTV or DISH? Both could be buyout targets for AT&T
(George Antunes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:30:52 -0500
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] On this day (Feb 16)
To: Media News <medianews@twiar.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/dictionary/detail.asp?guid=&searchtype=1&DicID=19535&RefType=Encyclopedia
Although it might seem hard to believe because of the way the Web has
grown in popularity, computer users used to rely on dial-up systems,
called BBSes (bulletin board systems), for their online work. And,
stranger yet, they enjoyed it.
Ward Christensen and Randy Suess? invention of the BBS sparked a major
change in the way people used their computers. Through a BBS, a computer
user could dial in and connect with other computer users from almost
anywhere. BBSes contained software, games, and message boards. Many
computer-related companies ran BBSes, using them to post company news or
software patches.
The first BBS, which Christensen and Suess called CBBS, began operating
Feb. 16, 1978, in Chicago. The two men had been contemplating the idea
for a while, but a timely snowstorm early in 1978 that made travel
difficult in Chicago gave them the impetus to start the project. CBBS
ran on a CP/M-8080 computer with a 300-baud modem.
CBBS became open to the public in 1979. CBBS was short for Computerized
BBS (not Christensen?s BBS, as some people theorized). It didn?t take
long for those using CBBS and other BBSes to drop the ?C? from the name.
Christensen had spent some time programming mainframe computers for IBM
when he and Suess began working on the CBBS, which they envisioned as an
electronic version of the traditional paper bulletin board where people
could use a modem, dial into the BBS, and leave messages for other
dial-up users. Suess handled the hardware setup, while Christensen wrote
the software?many components of which remained in use throughout the
lifespan of BBSes?and became the system operator. The entire setup
process took only one month. After Christensen and Suess wrote a story
about their BBS in the November 1978 issue of Byte magazine, others
began creating BBSes, too.
Within a couple of years, CBBS had more than 11,000 users from all over
the world. By 1992, 45,000 BBSes were operational in the United States,
up from 9,000 just five years earlier. Christensen?s original BBS
remained in operation into the mid-1990s, long after many BBS operators
had closed shop or moved their data exclusively onto the Internet.
Although Christensen probably is best known for his work with BBSes, he
also wrote the software behind the Xmodem protocol (sometimes called the
Christensen protocol), which was the first file transfer protocol in
widespread use. The Xmodem protocol, developed in 1977, was key in
allowing easy file transfers over a phone line, especially in the early
days of modems. It?s considered slow and impractical compared to today?s
standard protocols for modems, but it was perfect for the modems of the
time.
Christensen, who describes himself as ?somewhat of a loner,? became
interested in computers during his senior year of high school when he
built a simple computer. After attending college for a few semesters, he
dropped out and worked with IBM, where he became more interested in
computers.
IBM suggested he return to school, and he received a degree in physics
and chemistry at Milton College (now defunct) in Milton, Wis. He then
took a job at IBM as a systems engineer. He continued to work with
computers as a hobby, purchasing the first popular computer kit, an
Altair, in 1975.
Christensen received the 1993 Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier
Foundation and the 1992 Dvorak Award for Excellence in
Telecommunications for his pioneering work with BBSes. He also is a
member of the Shareware Hall of Fame.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:43:28 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Digital music sales may be playing a swan song
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
February 15, 2007
Digital sales may be playing a swan song
By KEVIN MANEY
USA TODAY
http://indystar.gns.gannett.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070215/TECH01/701260346/1001/TECH
The online digital music business stinks.
ITunes, Rhapsody, Zune Store, Napster - you name it. They're all failures.
The hype has people believing otherwise. Bloggers, tech writers and your
friends who know more about computers than you do shout that iTunes is the
best thing to happen to music since the microphone. Or maybe psychedelic drugs.
But it's just not true. Nearly six years after the introduction of iTunes
and the iPod, online music has failed to interest the vast majority of the
world's music consumers. Which is no doubt why Steve Jobs recently called
for an end to copy-protection software on digital songs. Something has to
change, or iTunes and its ilk will never break into the mass market.Jobs
admitted that iTunes' penetration has been weak. In his discussed-to-death
essay, "Thoughts On Music" - posted a couple of weeks ago on Apple's Web
site - Jobs noted that only about 3 percent of songs on a typical iPod are
bought on iTunes. The rest are either ripped from CDs and transferred into
iPods, or illegitimately downloaded for free off file-sharing sites such as
Kazaa or eDonkey.
The reality for iTunes might not even be that good.
In a report released in December, Forrester Research said it did a
strenuous, independent analysis of iTunes purchases. It found that just 3.2
percent of all "online households" - homes that have computers and Internet
connections, a subset of all homes - made an iTunes purchase over a
one-year period.
About 10 percent of buyers purchased just one track during the entire year.
About one-quarter of buyers spent $5 or less for the year. Most iTunes
users, Forrester says, own fewer than two CDs' worth of iTunes music.
Really, it's as if tens of millions of people each had a big honkin'
refrigerator, and put a quart of milk in it a few times a year.
Worse for Apple, Forrester found that the number of monthly transactions
per iTunes household was declining in 2006. "It is too soon to tell if this
decline was seasonal or if buyers were reaching their saturation level for
digital music," the report says.
Apple rebutted Forrester's report, saying that iTunes sales continue to
grow. But Apple did not offer specific numbers to counter Forrester's.
Jobs' music manifesto certainly confirmed that consumers - people who
already bought iPods, for Pete's sake - are simply not buying many iTunes
songs.
It's not just an iTunes problem. In January, the International Federation
of the Phonographic Industry - the global bureaucracy guarding music
copyrights - said that online music sales in 2006 "nearly doubled." Which
sounds amazing. Until you get to the part where the IFPI says that sales
had tripled in 2005. So the growth rate had slowed.
"Downloads, as a business model for digital music, has failed," Dave
Goldberg, VP of Yahoo Music, told a crowd at Digital Music Forum West late
last year. "When you look at people who are buying downloads, it is older
people who have money and time, and people who are doing it through gift
cards."
How about subscription services, like Rhapsody and Napster? Not much joy
there, either. Rhapsody reportedly has about 1 million subscribers. The
rest, all together, have about another million. That's an audience share
that approaches the 0.7 rating Animal Planet got when it aired "Puppy Bowl
III" before the Super Bowl.
It's certainly not that people don't want to buy stuff on the Internet.
Amazon.com's sales soared in 2006. Blue Nile is thriving selling diamond
jewelry, and eBay sells millions of cars. Getting people to buy songs ought
to be a snap.
And people want music. The Grammy Awards on Sunday were a giant celebration
of music's popularity. People listen to more music in more ways than ever.
But for the majority of people, downloading songs is too hard and too
frustrating. Some of that problem is the digital rights management (DRM)
software that limits where and how songs can be played. It makes iTunes
songs playable only on iPods, Rhapsody subscription songs playable only on
certain devices, and so on.
The record companies believe DRM keeps people from pirating music, which
may or may not be true. But DRM definitely keeps people from buying online
music. As Jobs says, if consumers could buy music from any online store and
play it on any device, the entire industry would thrive.
"The more you try to control music, the more you limit business
opportunities," says Steve Waite, author of the book "Quantum Investing"
and a professional musician.
Or as music artist Moby told me last week, "Personally, I see 2 percent of
DRM as protecting copyright and 98 percent annoying consumers."
There are other reasons downloads are stalled. People who grew up with CDs
- or vinyl LPs before that - like the packaging and cover art, and like to
get songs deep in an album that are not hits but grow on you over time. At
99 cents a song, digital downloads don't offer enough value to give up the
packaged CD niceties.
Especially when pirated music is so easily available for free.
If digital downloads are going to take off, they probably need to be
DRM-free, simpler to buy and much cheaper. Then again, that will only
happen with the record companies' blessing, and since they get 90 percent
of their revenue from CD sales, maybe they just don't care about taking
digital downloads to the mass market.
I guess we'll find that out if record label EMI, as rumored, decides to
sell songs with no DRM.
After Jobs released his essay, I asked Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris why
he chose to do it at that time. She said there was no particular reason.
But Jobs never does anything for no particular reason. He manipulates the
media and timing better than anyone in tech.
More likely, Jobs realized it was time to save iTunes.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:45:18 -0800
From: Dishnut <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Update: Delta 2 / THEMIS Upcoming Launch Coverage
TONIGHT (02-17) @3:45pm ET. NASA DVB
To: Medianews <medianews@twiar.org>, Satellite TV Wild Feeds List
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Tom & Darryl Mail List
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, TVRO Newsgroup <TVRO@yahoogroups.com>,
TVRO Talk Newsgroup <TVRO-TALK@yahoogroups.com>, WildFeeds List
<wildfeeds@twiar.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Dishnut wrote:
> Tonight (2-16) United Launch Alliance is scheduled to launch the THEMIS
> spacecraft for NASA on a Delta II rocket (7925 configuration) from
> SLC-17B, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
>
> Ground and high-altitude winds are the primary concern for todays launch
> attempt.
>
> Launch is scheduled at 6:05 p.m. EST. with a window extending to 6:23
> p.m. EST.
>
>
> THEMIS satellite separations occurs approximately 73 minutes after liftoff.
>
> THEMIS, (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during
> Substorms) is a constellation of five identical satellites to resolve
> the tantalizing mystery of what causes the spectacular sudden
> brightening of the Northern Lights or the aurora borealis - the fiery
> skies over Earth's northern pole.
> This is NASA's first five identical satellite mission.
>
> This will be the first NASA launch for ULA which is a joint venture
> between Boeing and Lockheed Martin combining the Delta and Atlas rocket
> fleets under the ULA organization.
>
> Broadcast coverage:
>
> NASA TV MPEG2 available on AMC-6 at 72? W, transponder 17C (4040 V)
> SR: 26665 VPID: 273 APID: 276 PCR: 273
>
> NASA TV MPEG2 available on AMC-7 at 137? W, transponder 18 (4060 V)
> SR: 26665 VPID: 273 APID: 276 PCR: 273
>
> Broadcast coverage starts at 3:45 p.m. EST.
>
> Don't have a dish? Webcast is available at:
>
> http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
>
> Additional coverage at:
>
> http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d323/status.html
> http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/launches/next_launch.html
> http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html
>
Due to unfavorable upper level winds a scrub was called, another attempt
will be made tonight.
--
Dishnut-P
====================================================================
Operator of RadioFree Dishnuts - Producer of The Dishnut News
heard Saturdays at 10pm EST. on
RFD, W0KIE Satellite Radio Network G-26 (T6) Transponder 1 / 6.2 & 6.8Mhz
(4DTV T6-999) WTND-LP 106.3, and many micro LPFM stations.
http://dishnuts.net
RFD Listen Links: http://dishnuts.net/#Listen
Show Archives: (Partly Up) http://dishnuts.net/archive/
**In Loving Memory of Mom (Dishnut Gerry)**
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:35:21 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] AACS: A Tale of Three Keys
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
AACS: A Tale of Three Keys
Thursday February 15, 2007 by J. Alex Halderman
This week brings further developments in the gradual meltdown of AACS
(the encryption scheme used for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs). Last
Sunday, a member of the Doom9 forum, writing under the pseudonym
Arnezami, managed to extract a "processing key" from an HD-DVD player
application. Arnezami says that this processing key can be used to
decrypt all existing HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Though currently this
attack is more powerful than previous breaks, which focused on a
different kind of key, its usefulness will probably diminish as AACS
implementers adapt.
To explain what's at stake, we need to describe a few more details
about the way AACS manages keys. Recall that AACS player applications
and devices are assigned secret device keys. Devices can use these
keys to calculate a much larger set of keys called processing keys.
Each AACS movie is encrypted with a unique title key, and several
copies of the title key, encrypted with different processing keys,
are stored on the disc. To play a disc, a device figures out which of
the encrypted title keys it has the ability to decrypt. Then it uses
its device keys to compute the necessary processing key, uses the
processing key to decrypt the title key, and uses the title key to
extract the content.
...
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1121
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 13:52:16 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Inventor of the TV Remote Dies
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Inventor of the TV Remote Dies
Feb 17, 2007 7:52 AM (ET)
By SHANNON DININNY
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070217/D8NBFLC00.html
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Hit the mute button for a moment of silence: The
co-inventor of the TV remote, Robert Adler, has died.
Adler, who won an Emmy Award along with fellow engineer Eugene Polley for
the device that made the couch potato possible, died Thursday of heart
failure at a Boise nursing home at 93, Zenith Electronics Corp. said Friday.
In his six-decade career with Zenith, Adler was a prolific inventor,
earning more than 180 U.S. patents. He was best known for his 1956 Zenith
Space Command remote control, which helped make TV a truly sedentary pastime.
In a May 2004 interview with The Associated Press, Adler recalled being
among two dozen engineers at Zenith given the mission to find a new way for
television viewers to change channels without getting out of their chairs
or tripping over a cable.
But he downplayed his role when asked if he felt his invention helped raise
a new generation of couch potatoes.
"People ask me all the time - 'Don't you feel guilty for it?' And I say
that's ridiculous," he said. "It seems reasonable and rational to control
the TV from where you normally sit and watch television."
Various sources have credited either Polley, another Zenith engineer, or
Adler as the inventor of the device. Polley created the "Flashmatic," a
wireless remote introduced in 1955 that operated on photo cells. Adler
introduced ultrasonics, or high-frequency sound, to make the device more
efficient in 1956.
Zenith credits them as co-inventors, and the National Academy of Television
Arts and Sciences awarded both Adler and Polley an Emmy in 1997 for the
landmark invention.
"He was part of a project that changed the world," Polley said from his
home in Lombard, Ill.
Adler joined Zenith's research division in 1941 after earning a doctorate
in physics from the University of Vienna. He retired as research vice
president in 1979, and served as a technical consultant until 1999, when
Zenith merged with LG Electronics Inc.
During World War II, Adler specialized in military communications
equipment. He later helped develop sensitive amplifiers for ultra high
frequency signals used by radio astronomers and by the U.S. Air Force for
long-range missile detection.
Adler also was considered a pioneer in SAW technology, or surface acoustic
waves, in color television sets and touch screens. The technology has also
been used in cellular telephones.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published his most recent patent
application, for advances in touch screen technology, on Feb. 1.
His wife, Ingrid, said Adler wouldn't have chosen the remote control as his
favorite invention. In fact, he didn't even watch much television.
"He was more of a reader," she said. "He was a man who would dream in the
night and wake up and say, 'I just solved a problem.' He was always
thinking science."
Adler wished he had been recognized for more of his broad-ranging
applications that were useful in the war and in space and were building
blocks of other technology, she said, "but then the remote control changed
the life of every man."
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 20:19:01 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Driver's License Emerges as Crime-Fighting Tool,
but Privacy Advocates Worry
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Driver's License Emerges as Crime-Fighting Tool, but Privacy
Advocates Worry
By ADAM LIPTAK
The New York Times
February 17, 2007
BOSTON, Feb. 12 - On the second floor of a state office building
here, upstairs from a food court, three facial-recognition
specialists are revolutionizing American law enforcement. They work
for the Massachusetts motor vehicles department.
Last year they tried an experiment, for sport. Using computerized
biometric technology, they ran a mug shot from the Web site of
"America's Most Wanted," the Fox Network television show, against the
state's database of nine million digital driver's license photographs.
The computer found a match. A man who looked very much like Robert
Howell, the fugitive in the mug shot, had a Massachusetts driver's
license under another name. Mr. Howell was wanted in Massachusetts on
rape charges.
The analysts passed that tip along to the police, who tracked him
down to New York City, where he was receiving welfare benefits under
the alias on the driver's license. Mr. Howell was arrested in October.
At least six other states have or are working on similar enormous
databases of driver's license photographs. Coupled with increasingly
accurate facial-recognition technology, the databases may become a
radical innovation in law enforcement.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/us/17face.html?ex=1329368400&en=8782b7320b2e7a40&ei=5090
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 20:58:42 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Drive-by Web attack aimed at home routers
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Drive-by Web attack aimed at home routers
Too lazy to change default passwords? You'll pay.
Robert McMillan
February 15, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- If you haven't changed the
default password on your home router, do so now.
That's what researchers at Symantec Corp. and Indiana University are
saying, after publishing the results of tests that show how attackers
could take over your home router using malicious JavaScript code.
For the attack to work, the bad guys would need a couple of things to
go their way. First, the victim would have to visit a malicious Web
site that served up the JavaScript. Second, the victim's router would
have to still use the default password that it's pre-configured with
it out of the box.
...
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011339
Drive-By Pharming
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/pub/techreports/TR641.pdf
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 21:04:34 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] First look: Apple offers 802.11n, and a wireless
wow
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
First look: Apple offers 802.11n, and a wireless wow
Do you know your N from your B and your G?
Ken Mingis
February 16, 2007 (Computerworld) -- What a difference a letter makes.
Just as it did in 1999 when it began pushing 802.11b -- the first
wireless networking standard to go mainstream -- and again in 2003
when it was on the leading edge with the faster 802.11g networking,
Apple Inc. is moving ahead again, this time with wireless routers
that use a standard not yet finalized: 802.11n.
With its latest Airport Extreme base station, Apple has done more
than revamp the look of its popular wireless router. (The silky white
UFO look is out; the simple, flat Mac mini look is in.) In addition
to adopting 802.11n -- a whole new standard in Wi-Fi that promises
faster transfer speeds and better range -- it is also making a foray
into home storage networks.
Now you can add a USB hard drive to your Airport Extreme base
station, creating an ever-present storage repository that anyone on
your wireless network can access. More about that in a minute.
In case you're not familiar with the vagaries of wireless standards,
802.11b offers a theoretical maximum speed of 11Mbit/sec. and a range
of about 150 feet. Its successor, 802.11g, promises about five times
that maximum speed, 54Mbit/sec., and a slightly wider radius of
coverage. And 802.11n, according to Apple officials, offers five
times the speed of its predecessor and about twice the range. Think
of it this way: fast, faster and fastest.
Apple's new hardware can also use 802.11a networking, which is more
common in enterprises, and has a built-in NAT firewall and three
10/100 Ethernet LAN ports.
As always, mileage will vary when you set up your wireless network,
depending on your hardware, the location of your router and the
presence of other equipment that might cause interference. But the
Airport Extreme base station I've been using for a couple of weeks
has worked flawlessly so far.
...
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011378
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 20:11:19 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Cuba Embraces Open-Source Software
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
[So, what took them so long to get into open source? This would seem like a
natural policy preference for any developing nation.]
Cuba Embraces Open-Source Software
Feb 16, 2007 3:42 PM (ET)
By JOHN RICE
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070216/D8NB1EK05.html
HAVANA (AP) - Cuba's communist government is trying to shake off the yoke
of at least one capitalist empire - Microsoft Corp. - by joining with
socialist Venezuela in converting its computers to open-source software.
Both governments say they are trying to wean state agencies from
Microsoft's proprietary Windows to the open-source Linux operating system,
which is developed by a global community of programmers who freely share
their code.
"It's basically a problem of technological sovereignty, a problem of
ideology," said Hector Rodriguez, who oversees a Cuban university
department of 1,000 students dedicated to developing open-source programs.
Other countries have tried similar moves. China, Brazil and Norway have
encouraged the development of Linux for a variety of reasons: Microsoft's
near-monopoly over operating systems, the high cost of proprietary software
and security problems.
Cuban officials, ever focused on U.S. threats, also see it as a matter of
national security.
Communications Minister Ramiro Valdes, an old comrade-in-arms of President
Fidel Castro, raised suspicions about Microsoft's cooperation with U.S.
military and intelligence agencies as he opened a technology conference
this week.
He called the world's information systems a "battlefield" where Cuba is
fighting against imperialism.
He also noted that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates once described copyright
reformers - including people who want to do away with proprietary software
- as "some new modern-day sort of communists" - which is a badge of honor
from the Cuban perspective.
Microsoft did not return calls seeking comment. Cuba imports many computer
preloaded with Windows and also purchases software in third countries such
as China, Mexico or Panama.
Valdes is a hard-liner who favors uniforms and military haircuts, but the
biggest splash at the conference was made by a paunchy, wild-haired man in
a T-shirt: Richard Stallman, whose Free Software Foundation created the
license used by many open-source programs, including Linux.
Middle-aged communist bureaucrats and ponytailed young Cuban programmers
applauded as the computer scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology insisted that copyright laws violate basic morality; he compared
them to laws that would threaten people with jail for sharing or modifying
kitchen recipes.
Stallman also warned that proprietary software is a security threat because
without being able to examine the code, users can't know what it's doing or
what "backdoor" holes developers might have left open for future entry. "A
private program is never trustworthy," he said.
Cuba also has trouble keeping proprietary software current. Its sluggish
satellite link to the outside world makes downloads of updates agonizingly
slow. And U.S. companies, apparently worried about American laws
restricting trade with Cuba, are increasingly blocking downloads to the island.
Cubans try to get around the problem by putting software updates on a
server located on the island. But many computers wind up unpatched and
vulnerable.
Cuba's Cabinet also has urged a shift from proprietary software. The
customs service has gone to Linux and the ministries of culture, higher
education and communications are planning to do so, Rodriguez said.
And students in his own department are cooking up a version of Linux called
Nova, based on Gentoo distribution of the operating system. The ministry of
higher education is developing its own.
Rodriguez's department accounts for 1,000 of the 10,000 students within the
University of Information Sciences, a five-year-old school that tries to
combine software development with education.
Cuba is also training tens of thousands of other software and hardware
engineers across the country, though few have computers at home. Most
Cubans have to depend on the slow links at government internet cafes or
schools.
Rodriguez shied away from saying how long it would take for Cuba to get
most of its systems on Linux: "It would be tough for me to say that we
would migrate half the public administration in three years."
But he said Linux use was growing rapidly.
"Two years ago, the Cuban free-software community did not number more than
600 people ... In the last two years, that number has gone well beyond
3,000 users of free software and its a figure that is growing exponentially."
Even so, most of the computers at this week's technology conference showed
the red, green, blue and yellow Windows start button in the bottom
left-hand corner of their screens.
And the start of the open-source sessions was delayed as organizers fiddled
with the computer running their projector. The conference room screen had
been displaying the words "Windows XP."
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 20:18:59 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Why is US always last in line for new cell
phones?
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
Why is U.S. always last in line for new phones?
There are several reasons for America's sluggishness in mobile telephony
By Michael Rogers
MSNBC Columnist
Updated: 12:29 p.m. CT Feb 15, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17154970/
For U.S. gadget lovers, this week has been pretty much torment. We?ve been
watching the enormous 3GSM tradeshow in Barcelona ? the Consumer
Electronics Show of the worldwide cell phone industry ? where the latest
and greatest mobile phone gadgetry is paraded before the international press.
Why is it torment? Because much of the hottest new equipment won?t be
available in the United States anytime soon, if ever. In an unusual
turnabout, we Americans have our noses pressed against the shop window of
the future, admiring technology we can only dream of owning.
What are we missing? Just one example in Barcelona this week was the
Samsung Ultra Smart F700, a sleek elegant black phone with a
high-resolution color touchscreen, slide-out keyboard, a five megabyte
auto-focus camera, all operating on an ultra-high-speed wireless network
that will download a 4 megabyte MP3 song in four seconds. The Ultra Smart
F700 looks as cool as Apple?s upcoming iPhone ? and actually does more. But
we?re not going to see it in the U.S. for a long time to come: for
starters, we don?t even have a network it will run on.
Networks, as it develops, are only one of several reasons for the U.S.?s
sluggishness in mobile telephony. But it?s probably the root of the
problem. Early on, most of the world decided to all use the same technical
standard ? GSM ? for their mobile phones. In many countries, the
government actually enforced that decision. In the U.S., on the other hand,
free enterprise ruled and multiple standards competed, with GSM initially
only a small part of the market.
By now there are upwards of 2 billion GSM users worldwide; the fragmented
U.S. market is only a small percentage of that. So when the big handset
manufacturers roll out a great new product, whom will they serve first?
Certainly not that divided market over in the States. Even the all-American
Apple iPhone uses the global GSM standard, which could initially restrict
its market in the United States (it won?t run on Verizon or Sprint
networks) but will open up a large market overseas.
Another example of our tardiness is text messaging. By now SMS (for short
messaging service) is part of European and Asian life: you can pay bills,
gamble, bid in auctions, and get every kind of information (including legal
notices) via SMS; the first novel has already been written via SMS. The
competitive streak in the U.S. kept text messaging from catching on ?
initially, if you were a Verizon user, say, you could only text to other
Verizon subscribers. Only recently have Americans been able to send text
messages between different carriers. In Europe they?ve not only been able
to do that for years, but they can even text between countries.
U.S. consumer behavior put another brake on cell phone evolution: since we
were far ahead in personal computer adoption, we had less need to use our
mobile phones for anything but conversation. In other countries, where
personal computer penetration was lower (or at-home online access more
expensive) consumers quickly figured out that cell phones could do much
more than simply voice. For many Japanese, for example, the mobile phone
remains their only form of Internet access. At one time, of course, that
was rather clumsy and difficult, and we Americans felt sorry for
them. Now, however, it?s no longer clumsy, but cool and the Japanese are
far down the road to cell phone nirvana, with rock-solid video on their
handsets (plus DVR capabilities) and a mobile e-commerce system that may
someday replace credit cards and ATMs.
The U.S. may finally be moving out of the cell phone Dark Ages. For
starters, high-speed cell phone networks ? generically called 3G ? are
finally rolling out across the U.S., with the four major carriers promising
that by the end of this year, about 85 percent of the U.S. will be able to
surf the Web at speeds approaching that of home DSL (assuming customers are
willing to pony up for the new services). But there may also be some price
competition to keep those services affordable: this year, a new technology
service called WiMAX will appear, initially from Sprint and a start-up
called Clearwire. WiMAX will provide an alternative form of high speed
wireless connection. At the Barcelona show, Sprint showed several new WiMAX
phones made by Samsung that had powerful Web-browsing features. All those
new networks will let U.S. carriers start providing the services that
Europeans and Asian users now take for granted.
But that?s not all. Another kind of new signal is coming to U.S. cell
phones this year: direct broadcast television. That takes a bit of
explanation. There is already some video available on existing cell phone
networks, but the quality of the images tends to be variable and is
sometimes quite choppy ? more like watching a slide show than video. What
the Asians and Europeans have learned is that video works best when it?s
transmitted as a separate signal ? in a sense, a step back to the way
old-fashioned television is sent, as a single broadcast that reaches many
receivers.
In the U.S., Verizon will be the first to introduce this new television
service later this year, and in Barcelona AT&T announced they will do the
same. The good news is that unlike the early days of the U.S. cell phone
market, both carriers will actually use the same technology, which should
make a bigger market for cool handsets. The bad news is that, once again,
the Americans have chosen a form of mobile TV broadcast that?s different
than the one most of the rest of the world has adopted, so it could be a
bit like the GSM situation revisited.
If all that sounds a bit confusing, it is, and in the end that?s the
central cause of the American mobile malaise. While choice is generally a
good thing, it has unquestionably slowed progress. There?s some optimism
that as the cell phone industry moves toward the next level of service ? 4G
? U.S. carriers may begin to converge on network standards. Or perhaps
rugged American individualism will once again reject the route of
compromise. In any event, don?t put down a deposit on that Samsung Ultra
Smart quite yet.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17154970/
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 11
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 20:20:58 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Tire Reef Off Florida Proves a Disaster
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
[One for the weird file.]
Tire Reef Off Florida Proves a Disaster
Feb 16, 2007 7:07 PM (ET)
By BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070217/D8NB4EV00.html
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - A mile offshore from this city's high-rise
condos and spring-break bars lie as many as 2 million old tires, strewn
across the ocean floor - a white-walled, steel-belted monument to good
intentions gone awry.
The tires were unloaded there in 1972 to create an artificial reef that
could attract a rich variety of marine life, and to free up space in
clogged landfills. But decades later, the idea has proved a huge ecological
blunder.
Little sea life has formed on the tires. Some of the tires that were
bundled together with nylon and steel have broken loose and are scouring
the ocean floor across a swath the size of 31 football fields. Tires are
washing up on beaches. Thousands have wedged up against a nearby natural
reef, blocking coral growth and devastating marine life.
"The really good idea was to provide habitat for marine critters so we
could double or triple marine life in the area. It just didn't work that
way," said Ray McAllister, a professor of ocean engineering at Florida
Atlantic University who was instrumental in organizing the project. "I look
back now and see it was a bad idea."
In fact, similar problems have been reported at tire reefs worldwide.
"They're a constantly killing coral-destruction machine," said William
Nuckols, coordinator for Coastal America, a federal group involved in
organizing a cleanup effort that includes Broward County biologists, state
scientists and Army and Navy salvage divers.
Gov. Charlie Crist's proposed budget includes $2 million to help gather up
and remove the tires. The military divers would do their share of the work
at no cost to the state by making it part of their training.
A monthlong pilot project is set for June. The full-scale salvage operation
is expected to run through 2010 at a cost to the state of about $3.4 million.
McAllister helped put together the ill-fated reef project with the approval
of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He helped raise several thousand
dollars (the county also chipped in), organized hundreds of volunteers with
boats and barges, and got tires from Goodyear.
Goodyear also donated equipment to bind and compress the tires, and the
Goodyear blimp even dropped a gold-painted tire into the ocean in a
ceremonial start to the project.
The tire company issued a press release at the time that proclaimed the
reef would "provide a haven for fish and other aquatic species," and noted
the "excellent properties of scrap tires as reef material."
It was a disappointment, just like other tire reefs created off coastal
states and around the world in recent decades.
"We've literally dumped millions of tires in our oceans," said Jack Sobel,
an Ocean Conservancy scientist. "I believe that people who were behind the
artificial tire reef promotions actually were well-intentioned and thought
they were doing the right thing. In hindsight, we now realize that we made
a mistake."
No one can say with certainty why the idea doesn't work, but one problem is
that, unlike large ships that have been sunk for reefs, tires are too
light. They can be swept away by the tides and powerful storms before
marine life has a chance to attach. Some scientists also believe the rubber
leaches toxins.
Virginia tried it several decades ago. But Hurricane Bonnie in 1998 ripped
the tires loose, and they washed up in North Carolina.
New Jersey scientists thought they had a solution to the weight problem. In
1986, the state began a small reef project with about 1,000 tires split in
half, bound together and weighted with concrete. It didn't work. Pieces of
rubber broke loose and floated free.
"We had to go up and down the coast of New Jersey and collect 50 to 100 of
those pieces that were all along the beaches," said Hugh Carberry of New
Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection.
The state then tried stacking tires 10-high and filling the cylindrical
center with concrete. Each stack weighed about a ton. While the tires
stayed in place, scientists soon learned they did not have enough surface
area for marine life to attach, so they switched to using concrete balls.
Indonesia and Malaysia mounted enormous tire reef programs back in the
1980s and are just now seeing the consequences in littered beaches and reef
damage, Sobel said.
Most states have stopped using tires to create reefs, but they continue to
wash up worldwide. In 2005, volunteers for the Ocean Conservancy's annual
international coastal cleanup removed more than 11,000 tires.
The tires retrieved from the waters off Fort Lauderdale will be ground up
for use in road projects and burned for fuel, among other uses.
"It's going to be a huge job bringing them all up," said Michael Sole,
chief of the state Department of Environmental Protection. "It's vigorous
work. You have to dig the tires out of the sand."
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 20:23:51 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Will AT&T make acquisitions to rescue its bumpy
video effort?
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Will AT&T make acquisitions to rescue its bumpy video effort?
Critics of its battle vs. cable fuel speculation Ma Bell is on the
acquisition hunt
By Jeffry Bartash
MarketWatch
Last Update: 7:15 PM ET Feb 16, 2007
http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/myway-com/news-story.asp?guid={9231091C-4003-4527-8E1C-4E22A97BC5E4}
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- AT&T Inc. needs to answer a nagging question --
how to hit back at cable companies that are stealing its phone customers.
Wall Street is split on which strategy the phone giant should pursue --
invest more in AT&T's fiber-optic push so it can ramp up video offerings,
or buy a satellite-television operator. Indeed, AT&T (T: news) explored the
option of acquiring DirecTV four years ago.
One thing is certain: The price tag of either strategy is billions of
dollars higher than AT&T now plans to spend. Yet the risk of losing
millions of customers to cable could force AT&T's hand, industry observers say.
"Cable is going to take more phone lines next year and the year after
that," said Steve Mather of Sanders Morris Harris, who wrote a report in
September suggesting AT&T might buy EchoStar Communications Inc. "How long
do you want that to continue?"
Tough customers
The trend is clear. Cable operators, which have jumped into phone business
in the past few years, are quickly signing up subscribers at the expense of
traditional carriers AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc.
In 2006, AT&T lost 950,000 primary consumer phone lines to end the year
with 21.84 million, a 4.2% drop. BellSouth, which AT&T acquired in
December, suffered a similar rate of decline.
Those losses could accelerate as Comcast Corp. (CMCSK: news) and other
cable operators expand phone services to more customers. Comcast added 1.5
million phone customers last year and expects to sign up more than 2
million households in 2007. About 60% of Comcast's territory overlaps with
AT&T.
Losing a local phone account may be very costly. Winning a customer back,
on the other hand, is even more expensive.
AT&T needs a video strategy to protect its most profitable customers. To
counter the cable assault, AT&T has adopted a two-pronged approach.
For starters, AT&T already offers video via partnerships with both DirecTV
and EchoStar (DISH: news), owner of Dish Network. So far, AT&T-BellSouth
has signed up about 1.45 million satellite customers. And the company is
adding an average of 100,000 each quarter, Chief Financial Officer Rick
Lindner said after AT&T's most recent quarterly results.
In the long run, AT&T plans to link up more than half the homes in its
territory by running fiber lines into their neighborhoods.
AT&T vs. Verizon
Under "Project Lightspeed," AT&T plans to spend $4.6 billion to reach 19
million homes in 13 states. The carrier also plans to lay fiber in portions
of the nine states served by BellSouth, but AT&T hasn't said how much that
will cost.
Many analysts are skeptical.
They don't think AT&T's fiber service, dubbed U-Verse, can simultaneously
deliver super-fast Internet speeds and a television service on par with
what cable can do. They point to repeated delays in the rollout of U-Verse
and other snafus. The service only had a few thousand subscribers at the
end of 2006.
Verizon's ambitious $18 billion plan to bring fiber directly to customer
homes is viewed as a superior technological solution. If AT&T were to adopt
the same approach, however, the price tag could exceed $30 billion and put
a scare into Wall Street.
The attitude of investors is quite evident in the stock performances of
AT&T and Verizon. Verizon (VZ: news) shares are 5% below where they traded
at the start of 2005, while AT&T's stock is up 44%.
"AT&T views the Verizon strategy as prohibitively expensive," said Aryeh
Bourkoff, an analyst with UBS Investment Research.
For their part, executives at AT&T insist their more modest fiber strategy
is working better than they thought. They say technological progress should
increase bandwidth over time and allow the carrier to offer faster
Internet-access speeds and a TV service that will match -- if not surpass
-- the power of cable.
"There has been a lot of talk about does this stuff work. It works and it
works well," AT&T Chief Executive Ed Whitacre Jr. said after its latest
quarterly results were issued in late January. "So this is our Plan A, and
Plan A we're sticking with."
Michael Coe, a spokesman for the company, reiterated AT&T's stance. "We're
fully committed to Project Lightspeed."
Yet Whitacre hasn't ruled out another big acquisition and his reputation as
a dealmaker only fuels the speculation.
Whitacre has orchestrated more than a dozen major deals during his 17-year
reign, marking him as the most aggressive executive in the telecom business.
Pie in the sky
If the fiber plan fails or cable starts to eat AT&T's lunch, a satellite
deal becomes inevitable, analysts say.
The cost would be high. Based on current stock prices, DirecTV could fetch
about $36 billion and Dish about $22 billion, analysts calculate. Mather of
Sanders Morris figures AT&T would have to pay about a 20% premium for
either company.
Such a bold move is not farfetched. In 2003, the current AT&T, then known
as SBC Communications Corp., took a close peek at DirecTV when the
satellite TV service went on the auction block.
"They kicked the tires and were interested in buying it, but the timing
just wasn't right," said Paul Wright, a telecom analyst at mutual-funds
giant Loomis Sayles.
He said a satellite acquisition would speed up AT&T's entry into the video
market, cost less money in the long run and deliver a better return on
investment. Both DirecTV and EchoStar, for instance, are projected to
generate more than $1 billion in free cash flow in 2007.
Wright, whose firm owns shares of AT&T, DirecTV and EchoStar, thinks an
announcement could happen as early as spring. Yet others think a deal -- if
it happens at all -- is unlikely for another year or two.
"I don't think a deal is imminent. They're digesting BellSouth and
exploring whether [U-Verse] can work," said Areyh, who's skeptical about
AT&T's limited fiber plan. "If it doesn't, then a satellite deal becomes a
viable option."
Jimmy Schaeffler, a longtime satellite analyst who runs The Carmel Group,
is one of the few analysts who believes AT&T's fiber plan will do better
than expected and temper the need for an acquisition.
Yet he said it will take several years for AT&T to discover whether its
fiber approach will succeed.
"It's just way too early," said Schaeffler, to make a clear determination."
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 13
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 20:25:54 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] DirecTV or DISH? Both could be buyout targets for
AT&T
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
DirecTV or DISH? Both could be buyout targets for AT&T
For AT&T, either satellite firm is seen as a good buyout target
By Jeffry Bartash
MarketWatch
Last Update: 7:14 PM ET Feb 16, 2007
http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/myway-com/news-story.asp?guid={BE91EDAF-8CF9-41CE-B012-E7974EE77262}
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Stocks or bonds? Yankees or Mets? Those are
some of the questions in the minds of Wall Street investors.
Here's another on the rise: Dish Network or DirecTV?
These days, Dish and DirecTV are frequently rumored to be buyout candidates
of interest to AT&T Inc. (T: news) if the nation's biggest phone company
decides to jumpstart its fledgling video business.
AT&T is upgrading its fiber-cable network to deliver its own television
service, but many analysts are skeptical about its chances for success from
both a technology and a marketing standpoint. See related story.
Taking on entrenched cable and satellite-TV operators like Comcast Corp. is
"like trying to take share away from Tyson and Ali," said analyst Steve
Mather of Sanders Morris Harris.
The quickest route into the video business is through the purchase of a
satellite-TV operator. The only big question: Which one?
DirecTV and Dish both have plenty of fans.
Take your pick
Market leader DirecTV (DTV: news) is generally viewed as the more suitable
partner. With about 16 million customers -- 3 million more than Dish --
DirecTV is the better known brand. What's more, about 57% of the satellite
customers in AT&T's territory subscribe to DirecTV, according to
calculations by brokerage UBS.
DirecTV, its stock market value now exceeding $29 billion, has been on the
auction block several times in recent years. Indeed, controlling
shareholder News Corp. (NWS: news) is in the process of transferring its
38% stake in DirecTV to Liberty Media Corp., the broadcast company led by
former cable titan John Malone.
"John Malone has said repeatedly that he believes the best strategy for the
telecom providers to get into broadband would be to acquire a satellite
operator," Andrew Baker of Cathay Financial wrote in a recent report. He
said a merger with AT&T might be Malone's "ultimate end game."
Yet AT&T has a deeper relationship with EchoStar Communications Inc. (DISH:
news), owner of Dish, and owns a small stake in the firm. Dish is arguably
a better-run company than DirecTV, and it's a feisty competitor in the
video market.
Until recently, AT&T only offered the Dish service, and the two companies
now offer a widely praised product called Homezone that combines a
satellite set-top box and a router for high-speed Internet access.
With its acquisition of BellSouth last year, however, AT&T inherited a
partnership with DirecTV. And because of BellSouth's relatively aggressive
marketing of satellite service, AT&T now has about 818,000 DirecTV
subscribers compared to 632,000 for Dish.
AT&T could tip its hand if the company decides to move all its satellite
customers to either Dish or DirecTV. So far, AT&T hasn't said whether it
will keep both partnerships or how long the contracts with each company run.
"We really haven't discussed that," AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said.
Some analysts also question whether Charlie Ergen, EchoStar's chief
executive and largest shareholder, would give up control of the company he
co-founded. He's a shrewd investor and tough negotiator who would be
expected to drive a hard bargain.
Ergen, however, has shown a willingness in the past to step aside, as he
notably did five years when EchoStar tried to buy DirecTV in a move that
eventually was blocked by federal antitrust regulators.
Rock and a hard place
Mather thinks the time is ripe for Ergen to act. The sale of Dish would
protect the media empire he's created and fatten his bank account by as
much as $10 billion.
After years of heady growth, the satellite business is starting to slow.
Dish and DirecTV are signing up fewer customers, competition is
intensifying and satellite firms need to invest heavily in high-definition
technology.
What's more, satellite companies lack the means to supply phone service and
an affordable high-speed Internet connection, putting them at a
disadvantage to cable and phone companies.
Comcast Corp. (CMCSK: news) and Verizon Communications (VZ: news), for
example, can offer consumers a so-called triple-play of packaged services
-- phone, Internet and video -- all on one bill. They're using such
discounted bundles of service to lure or retain customers.
A combination of AT&T with a satellite firm might offer a stiffer challenge
to cable rivals because AT&T would be able to offer a so-called quadruple
play -- phone, Internet, video and even wireless.
"Without a doubt, it would fill a hole in their portfolio," said Maribel
Lopez of Forrester Research, but she acknowledged that a buyout is no magic
wand.
"People are not tripping over themselves to buy satellite. That won't
change even if it's owned by AT&T," Lopez said. "This is a saturated market."
Jimmy Schaeffler, who runs the satellite-research firm Carmel Group,
suggests a better alternative for Dish and DirecTV: another trip to the alter.
"Federal regulators might eventually allow DirecTV and Dish to merge and
become a satellite monopoly if AT&T and Verizon emerge as legitimate
threats as suppliers of video," Schaeffler said. "That would create a third
major competitor in the pay-television industry."
Even in a best-case scenario, however, that opportunity is unlikely to
arise again for a couple of years.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
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