F.C.C. Eases Media Ownership Rule
,----[ Quote ]
| By the narrowest of margins, the Federal Communications Commission adopted
| proposals by its chairman to tighten the reins on the cable television
| industry while loosening 32-year-old restrictions that have prevented a
| company from owning both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the
| same city.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/business/18cnd-fcc.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=17cbae43078de27f&ex=1355634000&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Last week:
Can the BBC Trust Butter Some Parsnips?
,----[ Quote ]
| This does matter, because if the catch-up service remains Windows only, it
| turns the BBC into a vector of Microsoft's DRM and products - hardly what the
| public broadcaster should be doing.
| w
| Moreover, fine words butter no parsnips: can we trust the BBC Trust to follow
| through on this? If they don't, at least we can be sure that the OSC will be
| there with a sharp stick goading them to do so.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2007/12/can-bbc-trust-butter-some-parsnips.html
BBC pinches hot new columnist from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| In response to the BBC's move into business leader PR expert opinion, El Reg
| has decided to up the ante with a special video webinar on the secrets of
| success from the important leather-bound office of one of America's A-grade
| entrepreneurs...
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/14/bill_gates_bbc_secrets/
Related:
Lobby Group: Microsoft Too Close to BBC
,----[ Quote ]
| A software lobby group is campaigning to highlight the role of software giant
| Microsoft Corp. in the British Broadcasting Corp.'s digital media strategy by
| petitioning Great Britain Prime Minister Gordon Brown to address the issue.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070803/microsoft_bbc.html?.v=1
Beeb slammed for 'fawning' to Bill Gates
,----[ Quote ]
| BBC viewers have flooded the corporation with complaints over how it
| covered the launch of Microsoft Vista earlier this week.
|
| In one cringingly servile interview worthy of Uriah Heep, the
| Beeb's news presenter Hugh Edwards even thanked Gates at the
| end of it, presumably in appreciation at being allowed to give
| the Vole vast coverage for free.
|
| In other TV news items presenters excitedly explained how Vistac
| ould be obtained and installed - details courtesy of the BBC's
| website.
|
| But British viewers, currently forced to pay a £131.50 licence
| fee to maintain the BBC's "impartiality", were less than impressed.
|
| Scores got in touch to complain that so much was Auntie up Bill's
| bum that you could barely see her corset.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37411
http://slated.org/bbc_microsoft_bias
BBC Corrupted
,----[ Quote ]
| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
Gates sold 100,000 Univision shares-SEC filing
,----[ Quote ]
| The foundation said it sold its remaining stake in Univision,
| which is in the process of being acquired by private investors,
| for an average of $35.34 per share in open market transactions.
`----
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsmlreuters.com:20070105:MTFH49951_2007-01-05_22-11-13_N05298823&type=comktNews&rpc=44
http://tinyurl.com/yll88p
Bill Gates lends cash to buy newspapers
$350 million to MediaNews
,----[ Quote ]
| Gates involvement has been very behind the scenes. In fact many of
| those involved in the deal didn'teven know he was one of the investors.
| It was carried out through the Gates Foundation, the world's largest
| philanthropy outfit.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33849
Gates Foundation reports AIG, Covidien stakes-filing
,----[ Quote ]
| The overall value of the foundation's portfolio increased to $9.12 billion
| from $6.64 billion as of June 30.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN1423378020071114?rpc=44
Bill Gates fund reports 12.8 pct PlanetOut stake
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill Gates' investment fund Cascade Investment LLC reported in a regulatory
| filing on Friday that its holds a 12.8 percent stake in the common stock of
| online media company PlanetOut Inc.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKN1331033020070713?rpc=44
More on Troy Wolverton, the Street, and Apple Scandal
,----[ Quote ]
| MediaNews did buy the Mercury News with a loan from Bill Gates' foundation,
| and is in the process of paying back that loan by publishing information
| without much journalistic or technical integrity.
|
| Specifically, I wrote “One might think that the San Jose Mercury News, being
| located in Apple's backyard, would tend to trumpet the company's success. One
| would be wrong... Apple's corporate proximity to San Jose is trumped by the
| Mercury News’ need to publish low cost, highly sensational news to make
| enough money to pay back Bill Gates for the favor of his humanitarian loan.”
`----
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q3.07/082663E0-6FD8-4F1D-909F-1BC72833AD02.html
Dark cloud over good works of Gates Found
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Gates Foundation Revokes Pledge to Review Portfolio
,----[ Quote ]
| ...the Gates Foundation took down their public statement on this
| and replaced it with a significantly altered version which seems to
| say that investing responsibly would just be too complex for them
| and that they need to focus on their core mission: 'There are
| dozens of factors that could be considered, almost all of which
| are outside the foundation's areas of expertise. The issues
| involved are quite complex...
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/12/1756212&from=rss
What happened to the guts?
,----[ Quote ]
| Of one thing I am fairly certain. Microsoft all but eliminated
| mainstream software competition. As a result, Microsoft became
| the primary source of advertising revenue for mainstream publications.
| You don't bite the hand that feeds you. So instead of publishing
| issues calling for a worldwide boycott of Vista because it focuses
| more on what you can't do than what you can do, you see special
| editions praising Vista as the greatest advancement in computing
| since Windows 95. Granted we all know that Windows 95 was a dog
| from day one, but by the 90s, the mainstream press had already
| become rampant with Microsoft sycophants and they pushed Windows
| 95 like it was the second coming.
|
| [...]
|
| In short, I'd love to see a mainstream publication become an
| advocate for the consumer once again.
|
| As noted above, there are exceptions, including Linux Journal,
| most other FOSS-centered publications and even The Register.
| But we're the little guys.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000173
PC World Editor Resigns When Ordered Not to Criticize Advertisers
,----[ Quote ]
| Apparently he also told the staff that product reviews had to be
| nicer to vendors who advertise in the magazine. The sad thing is
| that given the economics of publishing in this day and age, I
| doubt anything even comes of this even tho it essentially
| confirms that PC World reviews should be thought of as no
| more than press releases. I know that's how I will consider
| links from them in the future. But congratulations to anyone
| willing to stick to their guns on such matters.
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/03/1810239&from=rss
|
|
