FCC Cancels Free Wi-Fi Meeting, Concentrating on DTV: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer December 14, 2008

The FCC has canceled their December 18th meeting meant to discuss the future of Chairman Kevin Martin's proposed free nationwide Wi-Fi. After receiving letters from Senator Jay Rockefeller and Congressman Henry Waxman, the FCC lacked a consensus to move forward with the Wi-Fi plan. Rockefeller and Waxman's letters stressed that the FCC focus on the Digital Television Transition rather than new projects.

Howard Stern, whose contract with Sirius XM expires in two years, said he will not renew his contract. While the comment came during a listener call in on the Stern show, the news could not be worse for Sirius XM as Stern is by far their biggest star. While Stern's word isn't exactly the most credible, his impact on Sirius XM is notable, especially at a time when their stock is at $00.14.

The NPD is reporting that video game sales were up 10% in November, with year to date sales up 22%. Sales were at $2.91 billion for November and $16.04 billion for the year, compared with $13.14 billion last year. In total, Nintendo Wii outsold competitors, selling 2.04 million units, more than twice Microsoft's XBox 360 (836,000).

The Government of Estonia approved a law that will make Estonia the first country to enact mobile phone voting. In the last election, Estonians were allowed to vote via the Internet. The system works on an individual chip basis, which functions as a digital ID and authorizes an individual's voting status. The next parliamentary election, to be held in 2011, will be the first to give users mobile voting access from phones.

Plus, today's consulting question, "Is Google really going to create a fastlane for its own content with ISP's?" Shelly has the answer on today's MediaBytes.

Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, York House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at [e-mail]

Comments

[stargazer13]

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I consider my self a normal intelligent inquisitive human being

[pdk]

Hey wanna watch videos sometime ;)