Wired today reports on tools that will make posting to weblogs easier when on the road.
[...] Joe Laszlo, a Jupiter Research analyst, believes that of the estimated 500,000 people who maintain a weblog, as many as 25 percent might eventually use moblogging tools to update their sites. He predicts carriers will use moblogging software in different ways: Some will lure customers with tools like Kablog that allow them to remotely update their existing weblog. Others will follow the FoneBlog model and use moblogging as a way to reduce subscriber turnover by tying a user's weblog to a carrier's service. [...]
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Clear Channel seems to be media consolidation's whipping boy. Hard to find anyone who doesn't love to hate Clear Channel. And like the bully in the schoolyard who went a bit too far, Clear Channel is losing its fellow media conglomerate friends.
[...] Today, broadcast, cable and newspaper giants like Viacom, Comcast and Gannett want a chance to expand their empires and enjoy the same large-scale efficiencies that Clear Channel has profited from. But they're frustrated. After years of intensive lobbying and with a Federal Communications Commission chairman, Michael Powell, who is widely considered to be thoroughly pro-deregulation, the havoc wrought upon radio by Clear Channel is unexpectedly offering ample proof of what can go wrong with media deregulation. Radio's current mess is having a significant impact on the debate over media concentration, and may even force Powell to water down his long-awaited ownership recommendations [...] salon.com
To be sure, the current White House administration is taking a hands off approach to media regulation and the de-regulation enabled by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. But as Eric points out, Clear Channel is making deregulation look bad. And this just might be a good thing for the rest of us and for mass media overall.
[...] consumer discontent with broadcast radio appears to have finally gotten the attention of politicians. Appearing before the Commerce Committee in January, Powell received an earful from senators who for years were indifferent to radio. Suddenly, they were pressing him about the industry's runaway consolidation. In a rare move, Powell, an articulate free-market advocate who thinks today's ownership rules don't "reflect the realities of the modern media marketplace," conceded he was "concerned about the concentration, particularly in radio." [...]
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