I made mention of this Pennsylvania travesty in my 2 minutes last night at the FCC Media Consolidation Forum at Sundin Hall at Hamline University. (They were taking testimonials and comments from any member of the public who wanted to speak their concerns about media issues in 2 min or less.) Commissioner Adelstein was there along with Commissioner Copp's advisor Goldstein. Here is more info on what the event was about: http://www.wirelessiq.info/content/newsfeed/2180.html http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-254939A1.pdf I didn't know about the event until less than 2 hours before it started, otherwise I would have spread news of its happening. Nonetheless, the 315-seat hall was filled and an overflow room was setup. Public statements began about 9:15p and went overtime to 12:55p...3 hours and 40 minutes and at two minutes apiece thats up to 110 public statements (the event was originally scheduled to end at 11:00p). There was a little overhead in calling up the names of those who wanted to make a statement so they could get in line, so realistically I bet 100 people made statements. The Commisioner and Copp's advisor remained until the everyone who wanted to make a statement had done so. KFAI radio was there and recorded all the audio, and the SPNN cable channel recorded all the video. The KFAI recording person said he'd try to get all the audio onto the KFAI website sometime in the next few weeks. Freepress.net helped organize it and one of their people said that TPT will be putting together an episode about the meeting that will likely air in late Jan or early Feb 2005. http://freepress.net/ http://freepress.net/future/=stpaul The Hubbards from Hubbard broadcasting (Channel 5 in the TC area) were present and stayed until the end of the event. All of the ~100 public comments were unanimous in being against further consolidation of the media companies and many wanted some of these company mergers reversed. There were numerous comments voicing disapproval of the takeover of St. Olaf's WCAL station by MPR, with the commenters asking the FCC to reverse its approval of the broadcast license takeover. All in all it was a very good event. I hope that we see more of these kind of meetings between officials and the concerned populace in the future, provided that actual results are gained. It doesn't do the public any good for these events to only be feel-good in nature. As some commenter said, 'we need to put the teeth back in the FCC to serve the public interest'. -hk At 11:35 AM 12/10/2004 -0600, you wrote: >Thought this would be of interest to TCWUG-ers. There's more at >http://www.freepress.net/wifi/=PA and http://www.freepress.net/wifi/ > >Telecom Giants Try to Crush Community Wireless >December 1, 2004 Latest: Pennsylvania residents get a raw deal from >Governor Rendell on broadband bill >Despite widespread public opposition, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell >signed a bill late last night that will prevent local communities >across the state from providing broadband Internet services that >compete with companies like Verizon. >Read the Free Press release: >http://www.freepress.net/news/release.php?id=37 > >Previous releases > >November 23, 2004 The Pennsylvania bill is part of a nationwide effort >by big telecom companies to write their broadband monopolies into law. >Read the Free Press release: >http://www.freepress.net/news/release.php?id=36 > >Analysis > >"Like trying to solve pollution and traffic congestion problems by >outlawing buses and subways while subsidizing SUV purchases" >Analysis by Harold Feld, of Media Access Project: >http://www.wetmachine.com/index.php/item/175/catid/7 > >-- >Leif Utne >Associate Editor, Utne Magazine >Co-coordinator, Let's Talk America >612.338.5040 x348 >www.utne.com >www.letstalkamerica.org >http://public.xdi.org/=Leif.Utne >-- > > >_______________________________________________ >Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >http://www.tcwug.org >tcwug-list at tcwug.org >https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list > > _______________________________________________ Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.tcwug.org tcwug-list at tcwug.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list