MediaLawDaily September 27, 2013

EA Sports and CLC settle lawsuit by Ed O’Bannon plaintiffs; NCAA remains as lone defendant
Birmingham News
Electronic Arts Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company have settled all claims brought against them by plaintiffs in the joint Sam Keller and Ed O’Bannon lawsuit over the use of college athletes’ names, images and likenesses, according to a court filing today.

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EA Cancels Next Year’s College Football Game
Wall Street Journal
Electronic Arts said it is canceling its college football game next year, adding that it is uncertain about the future of the franchise amid continued legal acrimony between the National Collegiate Athletic Association and student players.

Privacy Board Set to Assess Surveillance Court, Patriot Act
The BLT: Blog of LegalTimes
The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved retired U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Wald’s re-nomination to a White House panel that’s looking at privacy law in the context of the national security.

Utah judge recounts his time on secret surveillance court
Salt Lake Tribune
Dee Benson, who served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for 7 years, says warrants weren’t just rubber-stamped.

FCC Proposes to Eliminate UHF Discount
Broadcasting & Cable
As expected, the FCC voted Thursday to eliminate the UHF discount, which allowed TV station owners to count only 50% of a UHF’s audience toward the FCC’s 39% cap on a station group’s total audience reach.

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Walden Comes Out Swinging Against FCC Rule Change to Cap Size of TV Groups
Adweek
In what is turning out to be a highly contentious rulemaking, the Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 along party lines to begin the process of changing how TV stations are counted toward the 39 percent national ownership cap.

Will An FCC Proposal Slow The Pace Of TV Station Deals?
Deadline

FCC Tells Comcast to Put Bloomberg TV Among News Channels
Bloomberg
Bloomberg TV must be placed in neighborhoods of news channels that Philadelphia-based Comcast provides in standard definition in the 35 largest markets, the FCC said in an order released by e-mail.
> Ruling: In re Bloomberg

The Two Court Rulings Rocking Aereo, FilmOn
TVNewsCheck
Aereo may attempt to distinguish its technology from FilmOn’s, as litigation proceeds.

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FilmOn Takes On Tampa
Multichannel News
FilmOn.com this week opened up another TV antenna array in Tampa, expanding into its 16th market as the company seeks to overturn a district court injunction.

House Republicans Want To Kill Net Neutrality As Part Of Their Debt Ceiling Bill
TechCrunch

7 internet memes who sued
The Week
Memes bubble up from the swamps of the internet every day, to be shared on Reddit messageboards and Facebook walls a like. But how do people react to becoming the unwitting stars of shareable content?

America Offline: 15% of U.S. Adults Don’t Use the Internet
Mashable

Tribune newspapers, including L.A. Times, prepare for cost-cutting
Los Angeles Times
A Tribune spokesman confirmed late Thursday that the company has started a budget review process. Newspaper managers have been asked to look for efficiencies.

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Tribune boss orders $100 million in cuts
Robert Feder
It’s not clear how they’re supposed to do it, but Tribune Co. executives have been ordered to come up with $100 million in budget cuts, sources said, as the company prepares to spin off the publishing side of the business.

New York Times Forecasts Further Drop in Ad Revenue
Wall Street Journal
New York Times Co. expects to report around a 3% decline in print and digital advertising revenue for the third quarter, Chief Executive Mark Thompson said Thursday, but he added that overall revenue would be up thanks to stronger circulation.

GateHouse Media: Our bankruptcy filing ‘is not a reflection of any operational problem’
Jim Romenesko
CEO Michael Reed says in a memo that “with the challenges facing our industry and the impending maturity of our secured debt next year,gate we needed to be proactive in exploring options to restructure our debt, recapitalize and position ourselves for future growth.”

What makes the Texas Tribune’s event business so successful?
Nieman Journalism Lab
The Austin-based news nonprofit is on track to generate a record $1.2 million in revenue from its events this year, including The Texas Tribune Festival, which starts today.

Intel Looking for Help from Amazon or Samsung to Keep Its Web TV Project Alive
All Things Digital
Intel executives, who have promised to launch a Web-based pay TV service by the end of 2013, are now looking for a strategic backer to help them fund and distribute the service. If they don’t find one soon, it’s possible the project will be scrapped.

D. Colo.: Shareholders Sue Dish, Charlie Ergen Over $2.2 Billion Spectrum Bid
Hollywood Reporter
The lawsuit alleges the the chairman personally bid $2 billion on bankrupt broadband provider LightSquared knowing he’d profit handsomely if Dish outbid him — which it did.

Twitter Strikes Video Deal With NFL
Broadcasting & Cable
Twitter has struck a deal with the National Football League to provide game highlights and other specialized video packages to its users, the company announced Thursday.

BuzzFeed Dominates on Facebook, BBC Tops Twitter, Study Says
The Wrap

Google Alters Search to Handle More Complex Queries
New York Times
Google made one of the biggest ever changes to its search engine, as part of a shift away from matching keywords on Web pages to understanding the meaning of search queries.

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FAQ: All About The New Google “Hummingbird” Algorithm
Search Engine Land

The First True Amazon Tablet
New Yorker
A constellation of services that Amazon has pieced together over the years make the Kindle Fire HDX seem like the first real device from Amazon.

Netflix opens the gates to ‘Super HD’ video for all
CNET News
The streaming service’s highest-quality picture was previously available only to customers with an Internet service provider that was part of Netflix’s Open Connect network.

Intel makes ‘significant’ investment in Google Glass rival
CNET News
Intel is serious about wearable computing. It’s announced an investment in a major wearable computing device maker — one of a string of recent announcements.

The Star-Ledger reaches deal with 4 unions, avoids shutdown
Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger reached a tentative agreement with its production unions Thursday night, averting a threatened shutdown of New Jersey’s largest newspaper.

Democratic Majority NLRB Restores Bargaining Rights to NBC Universal ‘Content Producers’
Communications Workers of America
A decision issued this week by the National Labor Relations Board rejected management’s attempt to slash the wages, benefits and bargaining rights of about 100 photographers, editors and writers by reclassifying them as “content producers.”

Canada: Bundled up: Rogers bets on a digital future for magazine
Globe and Mail
Rogers Media is taking a lesson from its parent company’s cable division, as it bundles all of its magazines into a single digital monthly subscription package that will also include dozens of American titles such as Rolling Stone and The New Yorker.

China: After 13-year ban, China to allow game console sales
CNET News
The country says its Ministry of Culture will need to approve each game console, but the devices would be made available across the country.

China: Internet ‘Concessions’ Coming to China? Don’t Hold Your Breath
Wall Street Journal

Egypt: In Egypt, an anti-Brotherhood media crackdown
Columbia Journalism Review
The current censorship exceeds the crackdown of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Hong Kong: Pui Kwan Kay v Ming Pao, Responsible Journalism Defence fails
International Forum For Responsible Media Blog
The Hong Kong Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao Daily was ordered to pay defamation damages of HK$500,000 (£69,000) to Hong Kong Football Association vice-chairman Pui Kwan-Kay. 

Liberia: Libel case against Liberian journalists dropped
AFP

Peru: Journalist handed suspended jail term
Committee to Protect Journalists
Peruvian journalist Humberto Espinoza Maguiña was convicted twice in two consecutive days in September 2013 on charges of defaming the governor of the northeastern state of Ancash, according to news reports.

UK: Libel courts promotion for Leveson: Judge to be President of the Queen’s Bench Division
Daily Mail
Lord Justice Leveson, the judge who led the inquiry into the culture, ethics and practice of the Press, has been promoted to a senior High Court role….The Division handles defamation cases and although he is not expected to hear any cases himself, he will pick the judges who do.

CNN Now Says Gingrich Is “Not In Violation” Of Network Rules
Media Matters
In an apparent reversal, CNN now says that Crossfire co-host Newt Gingrich is not actually violating network standards by failing to disclose his PAC’s financial relationship with politicians discussed on the program.

Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the ‘pathetic’ American media
The Guardian
Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should ‘fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can’t control.’

Google’s chief economist understands media better than some industry executives do
paidContent
It may not be something that traditional print-media supporters like to hear, but Varian argued that the internet is simply “a superior way to distribute and read news.”

A shield law is necessary to protect U.S. journalists
Washington Post

Copyright law and This Charming Charlie
Los Angeles Times
Neither tech advocates nor copyright holders are happy with the rules for the use of works online.