Consumer Guide for Today's Media

While things are still in the development stage, it looks like cable TV has a vested interested in offering wireless internet to all of it’s customers, which may pave the way for a wireless delivery of TV in the not so distant future.

On Wednesday, Sprint Nextel announced a merger with little known Clearwire Corporation. This company is a WiMax based company, the objective is to provide broadband speed to customers with absolutely wireless coverage. WiMax works similarly to cellular internet, but with much faster download speeds, with the promise to do nothing but get faster. This is much like the already existing cellular service that is provided to some cell phones from AT&T and Verizon, but Clearwire plans to take this inside the home so that users will be free from wires on all of their devices.

This project carries a large price tag. The company valued itself at 14.5 billion dollars according to Reuters.com, but some investors believe that the price is set too high, which caused a 14.8 percent drop in stock values. However, many large bidders are not fooled by the drop in price, with big name investors such as Time Warner Cable, Google, Intel, Comcast, and smaller cable companies such as Bright House.

This is a complete gamble by the already feeble Sprint Nextel Corporation. They have invested a large sum of money in this deal and will be severely damaged if this falls through mid production. They have already tried to make this merger a year ago and it fell through because the agreement was too complex. Things are different this time, but many are afraid of history repeating itself.

I think this is a fantastic idea. Right now Clearwire already has the technology in place, they are operating in a few cities around the United States. Intel is placing the technology in all of their new chips that they produce, and the cable companies are turning to this technology to provide a more reliable means of service to their clients.

Think about it. Imagine that you are driving on a road trip with your friends and come upon a major storm. Traditionally you could pull over, or you could try and find a local radio signal to see the severity of the storm, or you could have one of your passengers open their computer to connect to the WiMax network and find out exactly the problem is using several sources of information that are constantly updated. This has potential to keep business alive all during travel, where internet conference calls can be made while people are on the way to the convention or to their business meeting.

This technology will blanket the entire country in wireless internet and eventually cable. People will be able to open their computers or cell phone anywhere and connect to the rest of the world at broad band speeds. I know that there are times when I need to get away from technology, and escape to the mountains, because I know that there is no service there. Now, there’s the opportunity to take the internet with you, just in case you happen to need. After all there’s always the off button.

What is news? What is legitimate news? According to a recent FCC ruling, it’s probably nothing truly important.

That’s right. Just recently, the FCC ruled that shows like TMZ and 700 Club were actual news. In their words, the two shows are “bone fide newscasts.”

So let’s take a look at that statement.

TMZ describes itself as “your official site for entertainment news, celebrity gossip, Hollywood rumors…” etc.

I don’t know about you, but the last time I checked, celebrity gossip and things that may or may not be true (like rumors), do not count as legitimate journalistic material. While they may be entertaining, they are not truly news. They are nothing more than special interest pieces. The fact that so much attention is given to the personal lives of famous figures makes me sad. I know that may be taken as a derogatory or negative comment by those who obsess about celebrities, the truth, as far as I’m concerned, is that they are no more special than anyone else. They just have more money.

When newscasts turn to celebrity lives to fill time, I frown.

I am not going to school to become a reporter on celebrity lives. I don’t want to talk about drug addictions brought on by a general lack of the ability to entertain one’s self. I don’t want to write a pity story about someone who has had everything handed to them. Where is the future of the profession I love heading?

Down the tubes if this FCC ruling is for real.

Entertainment has come to dominate news. People grab newspapers to read the sports section, the comics and other such novelty items. That’s not journalism. The fact that you get more than 22 million hits when you search “TMZ” on Google is a bad sign. It shows the popularity of celebrity, but it also perhaps hints at the decline and eventual extinction of traditional media. If newscasts with this content are deemed “bona fide,” what will be left for those of us that have a true passion for accurate reporting?

Let’s look at 700 Club and hope for the best.

The 700 Club, for those that don’t know, is a religious show, featuring Pat Robertson. On the site, topics such as demons and psychics are discussed. It’s a program on the Christian Broadcast Network…I don’t have anything against it, but that seems a little biased.

Anyway, the point of this is to show that traditional journalism, the accurate reporting, the important things like government and laws and everything that the average Joe might find boring, are on the way out. Something needs to be done to combat this trend. Reality TV needs to show something a little more true to life (since when is “The Real World” even close to real?). The FCC’s support of this kind of journalistic garbage sheds a saddened light on the entire profession.

Is it really a surprise that Rupert Murdoch is behind TMZ?

Last time I checked Fox News was the most credible and unbiased news station in the country.

And last time I checked white men can jump.

One major issue currently making its rounds at the FCC is the switch to Digital television (DTV) that is scheduled for February 17 of next year. Various problems have arisen on the road to the changeover. There have been lawsuits and complaints all over the place. Actual progress is finally being made however, as one US city will be tested in advance later this year.

On September 8, Wilmington, North Carolina will become the first market to test the DTV transition in advance. What this means is that the country will get a preview of the problems it may face on a much grander scale come next year. The information that this testing could provide may be truly invaluable.

But what is the real point?

The entire transition to digital is ridiculous. It serves no real purpose. No one should need to go buy a new TV just so that the government can convert to digital signals in broadcasting. How many grandparents is this going to upset? How many older individuals are going to be calling help lines asking what to do? I know that there is plenty of educational information about the switch. I get reminders in my snail mail box and online a few times each year. I see television commercials maybe once every week (once while doing this blog in fact). Is everyone really going to understand what they read on those things anyway?

Probably not.

So here’s the deal. The switch will be made mandatory next February. If you have a TV that you purchased recently you are fine. If you have cable or satellite you are fine. If your television set sports rabbit ears…not so much. The FCC, which is heavily involved in the transition, is doing its part to help educate people on the changes that must be made. For those stuck with a dinosaur-like TV, there are only a few options.

1. Buy a new TV
2. Purchase a converter box

The second option is probably going to be the most logical. It won’t be free though. At a time when the national average for a gallon of gas is nearing $4, who wants to pay more to watch the TV they already have? My guess is that no one is going to agree with that. That’s not to say people won’t buy converter boxes, but no one is going to be real happy about it. So what is the FCC in conjunction with the government planning to do about that? The answer, at least from their end, is a $40 voucher that people can redeem when purchasing the digital boxes. It seems generous, but really it’s more of a hassle than it’s worth. The fact that you have even to apply just to receive the coupon takes away from its appeal. The cost of the box has not yet been disclosed either, which makes me wonder if $40 off is really going to make that much of a difference for those needing one.

The thing that gets me thinking is what the difference is really going to be. Do I care? No. Should I? Probably not. The fuss that is being made over the whole transition is ridiculous. Why change something that has worked so well for so many years? Does everything need to be digital? Are people going to “ooh” and “ahh” because their signal is digital? No. The picture is going to essentially be the same. The content is going to be the same. Everything that we watch on TV is essentially going to be the same. The whole fuss over DTV is sad. Let’s focus our energies and worries on worthwhile causes and issues.

Starting now.

I think it’s fair to say that the lines between what’s scripted and real have become extremely blurred on reality TV shows. Hopefully we’ve all learned to watch them with a certain grain of salt, at least that’s what I thought before I watched The Hills the other day with a few of my girlfriends. You would have thought that Spencer had been dating one of my friends.

The reality star had flown to Colorado to “surprise” his ex-finance, Heidi, after she broke up with him and wasn’t answering his calls. My friends were yelling at the screen. As if Spencer could hear them, girls were giving him advice about how he should leave Heidi alone and fly back to LA. And if that wasn’t bad enough, heated arguments about the situation continued into the break. Why did Heidi break up with him? Should he have visited her?

Yes, I’m admitting it. My friends actually believe this stuff is real. I’m so ashamed. The absurdity of The Hills infuriates me. It’s fine if you take it for what it is, a scripted show crafted by MTV for pure entertainment value. But to truly think that you are looking into a window of the life of ordinary people is completely unrealistic.

And it’s not just my friends that seem to believe this stuff. The Hills is a phenomenon that has swept the entertainment and media industries. Drama between the main characters is covered religiously on entertainment news programs and in magazines as if it were the real thing. In March alone, The Hills stars Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag each graced covers of US Weekly. The one with Lauren frowning on the cover next to the headline “How I Was Stabbed in the Back” followed by a detailed six page spread detailing her “betrayal” is actually laughable. US Weekly seems to invest so much of their time covering the whereabouts of the show’s characters that I often wonder if they have some secret deal with MTV.

Although it bothers me, I’ve come to expect US Weekly to capitalize on the popularity of The Hills. But now, much to my dismay, reputable publications are getting in on the action. Rolling Stone is jumping in on the moneymaking bandwagon by putting The Hills girls (scantily clad in just their undies) on this month’s cover.

Although the show gets intense media coverage and publicity, I feel like slowly but surely people are starting to get the clue. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has been merciless in his scrutiny of the “reality” show. This past week his post titled “More Hills Fakery” called for the editors to at least cover their tracks better.

How many of you noticed this bullshit last night????
The Hills needs to whip their editors into shape!
The show again failed to cover up another 'scripted' reality moment.
In Monday's episode, Spencer is seen at Heidi's doorstep with black shoes on his feet, but…..
When he enters her apartment, the shoes magically turn to white.
Magic!!!!!!
Does MTV just not care anymore about covering up the sham?????

It’s not just Perez that notices the many discrepancies in the reality of the show. The Wikipedia page of The Hills yields a whole “controversy” section that spells out each instance of Hills fakery in a bulleted list. Earlier this month, a previous “love interest” of Lauren Conrad went on VH1’s Best Week Ever and described how the show is completely set up by producers. He was scouted by a producer to go on a date with Lauren, he was given “suggested” questions to ask her, there was even a fake barbeque set up in order for Lauren’s new love interest to interact with her old one.

FAKE FAKE FAKE and I’ve called it from the first episode of Laguna Beach four years ago.

However, fake or not, the show is a cash cow. The first episode of the extended portion of season three in March 2008 was the year's highest rated cable telecast up to that point averaging about 4.7 million viewers. Teen Vogue, the magazine where Conrad and Whitney Port intern has also benefited from the success of the show. Since the second season of The Hills began airing in mid-January, newsstand sales for the magazine increased by double digits over 2006 sales.

The numbers are pretty staggering. I wonder how many of those viewers believe what they see? How long will The Hills remain under the guise of reality? I hope not too much longer, I’m starting to lose my mind. And to my dear friends, we have enough drama in our own lives; we don’t need to spend our time arguing about someone else’s.

Sunflower Broadband customers should be excited. In fact they should be euphoric. Sunflower announced that 40 addition HD channels will be available beginning June 2. Most importantly, the new lineup will include ESPNU HD, ESPNEWS HD, Golf/Versus HD, Big Ten Network HD and TBS HD. Sunflower needed ensure these channels would be included because they all broadcast live sporting events, including the Major League Baseball Playoffs (TBS) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs (Versus). People do not pay thousands of dollars for HD TVs so they can watch Grey’s Anatomy. They want HD to watch sports.
Sports make HD worth it. They show off the vivid images, and they bring the viewer into the TV like never before. As I wrote earlier, time will tell if HD movies and primetime television shows will convince the skeptics. No one can deny that watching sports in high definition is outstanding. When I watched the Masters this April on CBS HD I thought Tiger Woods protruded from the screen and stepped into my living room. The experience is irreplaceable. When I flipped to TNT HD and watched the movie Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler was not anywhere near my living room. The point is, no substitute exists for high definition sports, but when it comes to regular TV or movies I will settle for small screens, computer screens or even iPod screen. This is why people will watch their favorite shows online, but they refuse to watch football on any screen smaller than 32 inches. People will complain to waitresses about the lack of HD during the NCAA tournament (I’ve witnessed this), but will get the news from their cell phone. The experience of watching sports in HD cannot be matched and stating in June Sunflower is going to be an industry leader in providing sports channels in HD.
Hockey fans should be the most excited. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are pretty much the only time hockey matters in realm of American TV sports. As a person who watches about 30 minutes of hockey per season I cannot deny the sports its credit: it looks great in high definition. I think HD could be the NHL’s only hope in increasing its TV ratings.
Golf fans should be equally as thrilled. The Versus Network HD is a joint venture with Golf Channel HD, so they split airtime on the same channel. This means whichever channel is airing a live event in HD then that will be the channel Sunflower customers will receive. It sounds like a rip-off, but they play golf during the day and they play playoff hockey games in primetime, so HD subscribers get two for the price of one.
In addition to extra sports channels, Sunflower will add news channels such as CNN HD and other variety networks like AMC HD. The demand for these channels in high definition may not be as great, but Sunflower’s effort to take charge in the HD market will definitely please the rising number of HD customers, help attract new customers, and help Sunflower keep pace with DirectTV and Dish Network.

This link will provide a list of Sunflower's new channel lineup
http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com/cable/channel_lineup/channel_lineup-2008-5.v1.1.pdf

I'm in my last few weeks as a college student here at KU. While I'm excited about punching my ticket out of here there's another big hullabaloo that I'm ready to be done with too, the news coverage for the election.

Now hold on Sam some might say, this topic is at the very core of your blog beat this semester, which you volunteered for. Why did you choose something that doesn't interest you? Well, to take a title from another assignment for this class, when I chose my blog beat that was then, this is now. Yes, thinking back to cold, dreary February when we chose our beats, I was excited to hear all the latest news on upcoming caucuses, speeches and gaffs that would come up then blog about them. Heck, I even was pumped up enough that I covered both the Democratic and Republican caucuses.

However, today, three months later, I find myself not even wanting to turn on cable news or checking out the nation and world section of the local paper because I know it will be loaded with stories that are outlandish and not central to real issues in the campaign.

In a campaign that had its earliest start ever it could be presumed that the anticipation would build up hype and make people more politically active than ever. That may be true for some of the more die hard politicos out there, but for myself and plenty of other Americans that don't eat, breathe and sleep Obama/Clinton/McCain it's tiring. Personally, I have made my decision in what candidate to support in November, and it would take a major fault on his/her part to sway my vote to another candidate. I'm certain that the media coverage now is only a taste of what's to come after the conventions this summer. So break out your earmuffs folks, it's going to be a long winded road to the White House.

The progression of Sam's interest in the media's coverage of the 2008 Presidential campaign.

So, when Hulu first hit the net, people were wondering what to call it? Is it like YouTube? Is it going to try to compete with YouTube?

Well, now Hulu is here and so far, so good for them. Hulu’s Jason Kilar, the chief executive of Hulu, says that he is confident that his company is going to continue to be successful. He said that he wants Hulu to be the place where if you can’t find a show you want to watch it will link you to a place where you can, and legally. (Maybe a slam at YouTube???? No, never. Hulu wouldn’t do that. Right?)

The site does have advertisements, so they are getting ad revenue and with the success the site has been getting, ad companies are said to find the idea enticing with more and more people turning to the Web for their any-time viewing.

But, Hulu has ad ideas of its own. Apparently they got a little creative and made their own site on their so called, media dubbed, arch enemy, YouTube. The site directs people away from YouTube and to the Hulu site to watch legal, better quality episodes of shows like Family Guy.
Watch out YouTube, Hulu is flexing its muscle. And that muscle is bigger than the Governator's, well the 70’s version. Hulu can be seen as a developing powerhouse because not only does it have NBC and Fox shows, it also has network shows from Bravo, E! and USA Network to name a few. So, if you ask me I would much rather watch a good episode of Project Runway on Hulu instead of watching Chocolate Rain on YouTube for the millionth time. Once was plenty.

It's on your screen.

Steven Colbert is the Greatest Living American. Or at least, he was for a while. For 19 days, Colbert's fans made him the top-ranked result on Google for Greatest Living American. This stunt won him the Webby award for "Person of the Year."

This isn't Colbert's first Internet stunt. He once nearly broke Wikipedia with his talk of African Elephants, spawning his own version of the site. Starting as a spin-off to the popular Daily Show, the Colbert Report has become a sensation of its own. Colbert has become a major figure in American news, entertainment, and politics. He has been to Fox News. He has battled with NBC's Stone Phillips, twice. He has been a keynote speaker at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. His portrait crowded the Portrait Museum in Washington so much, it caused a fire hazard. Marvel Comics gave him Captain America's shield.

This blog is about the business of the Internet, and it's fitting that my last entry is on Colbert. Colbert has figured out how to use the Internet more efficiently than any one else in news and entertainment could dream of. He has entered into Merriam-Webster's dictionary. He has more fans on Facebook than Obama or Hillary. His broken wrist ended up making $171,000.

Look at the #1 result on Google Images for Greatest Living American:

I can't say I know exactly how he does it. If I did, I'd be doing it. What I do know is, he's doing it right, and we need to learn from him.

This run of primary elections featured an interesting trend in the world of political races: The draft craze. It started as a group of people interested in encouraging Illinois Senator Barack Obama to run for President. So Ben Stanfield, one of those interested in Obama running for president, started draftobama.org/, a site completely dedicated to encouraging Barack Obama to run for President, and for citizens to support Obama. The site featured a petition for supporters to sign, as well as information about Obama and how volunteers could help. When it launched in late 2006, it seemed like a long shot, because Obama had already announced that he wouldn't be running for President in 2008. Somewhere along the line, Obama's line of thought changed, and he's now sitting as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for President.

While it's unclear whether the efforts of draftobama.org directly affected either Obama's decision to run or his success in the primaries, the site gained notoriety and many similar sites began to appear across the interwebs. There's a Draft Hillary site, a Draft Ron Paul, a Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President site, and even a Draft Mitt Romney for Senatesite, dedicated to encourage the former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential candidate to try to unseat John Kerry as Senator of Massachusetts. And of course there are a few others, too.

First of all, I don't understand the purpose of the Draft Hillary site, since it was a foregone conclusion that she would run for President. The purpose of the draft site is to encourage someone to run for President, since the person cannot actually be drafted to be President, just to run. Stanfield addressed this on the front page of Draft Obama when he said Our work here on Draft Obama is over done, but the work to elect Senator Obama is just beginning. Second, I highly doubt these sort of sites have a large effect on candidates' decisions on whether or not to run. While it may be reassuring to see a group of people gathered to support said politician, internet support can be skewed. As we've seen with Ron Paul, widespread support on the internet doesn't always transfer over to widespread support among all citizens. Though it may have appeared to help, the creation of Draft Obama and Obama's current success probably aren't related. While there are certainly more useless sites around, the draft politician craze seems to be pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

No your actual TV screens aren't getting smaller, but TV content is going to a smaller screen. That would be the screen of many mobile phones. Mobile TV seems to be taking off with many services expanding and luanching new programs for their services. Companies like Sprint Nextel, Verizon and AT&T are all now having mobile TV content provide for some of their phones.

The service provides believe that mobile TV will be a success because it will allow people to view things anywhere at anytime, even though only about seven percent of mobile subscribers watch video on their phones. But with a recently started plan to sets their TV content at a flat-rate fee and the fact the revenues for mobile video have gone up in the last three months, from $112 million to $308 million now, media groups seem to think that mobile TV will be a successful venture.

The players in the mobile TV market are mainly just Sprint Nextel, Verizon and AT&T. Sprint Nextel's offerings include NFL network, Weather Channel, E!, CNN and more. Verizon offers ESPN, NBC, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comdey Central and CBS. And then we have the most recent ventures into the mobile TV business, AT&T which offers the same programming as does Verizon because of a partnership with Qualcomm MediaFLO the same company Verizon partners with. But in addition to the same channels as Verizon AT&T will exclusively offer the channels PIX, a Sony movie channel, and CNN Mobile Live.

With mobile TV seemingly gaining popularity at a steady pace and providers thinking that the content will succeed over the long hual. There has seemed to be another innovation come along, that is the Blu-ray technology seems to be steming over into the mobile world. A company called NetBlender has come up with a way to blend Blu-ray technology with an iphone, thus being able to enhance the quality of content provided.

Mobile TV I believe has just begun in the stages of becoming something that will be at anyones disposal at anytime. I think it will succeed greatly because people have their phones with themselves almost all the time and this will alone themselves to be entertained will waiting for a haircut, at the airport, or other things. So TV screens are getting smaller, they are going to the mobile phone screens.