Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Wednesday that the company expects an outcome in its dispute with the Chinese government soon. Schmidt made the comments on Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit. “I’m going to use the word ’soon’, which I will not define otherwise,” he said.
“There is no specific timetable. Something will happen soon.” In Washington, Nicole Wong, the firm’s vice president and deputy general counsel, told the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee that the company stands by its decision to stop censorship in China.
“(if) the option is that we will shutter our .cn property and leave the country, we are prepared to do that,” she said. At the same time, it was revealed that the United States is mulling a possible legal challenge to China’s Internet censorship and related policies which it claims hurt U.S. companies that invest in the Chinese market.
The recent spat between Google and China started in January when the search giant announced that it would stop censoring search results in the country and would leave the market if it had no other choice. The announcement followed a hack targeted at Google’s intellectual property and the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
Google said that more than 20 companies were targeted in the attack which originated in the country. Chinese officials said they were working with Google to resolve the dispute.
Result for: house of representatives
On Tuesday the Judiciary Committee in the US House of Representatives approved the Performance Rights Act for consideration by the full House. If enacted into law as currently written, it would require most terrestrial radio stations to pay royalties to the copyright holder of each recording they play.
Under the current arrangement these broadcasters only have to pay publishers’ royalties. This system was put in place based on the idea that radio exposure sells music.
Just like they seem to do with any use of a recording that doesn’t make them money directly, the labels have characterized this as piracy. As usual they believe the problem isn’t their own business model, but rather that people simply aren’t giving them enough money.
The bill is still a long way from becoming law. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate earlier this year, but hasn’t made it out of committee yet.
Despite claims that radio exposure no longer drives sales, labels continue to provide music to radio stations free of charge. If they really believe what they claim shouldn’t they have stopped by now?
If they do believe it and haven’t stopped isn’t that the sort of thing that suggest a need for new management instead of propping them up with another royalty scheme?
Result for: house of representatives
The DTV Delay Act, which passed both the US Senate and House of Representatives recently, was supposed to ensure consumers who won’t be prepared for the DTV transition on the original February 17 date would still be able to watch TV. But today when the FCC released the list of broadcasters who are hoping to turn off their analog signals by that date anyway that’s not how it looked.
According to the FCC announcement 190 stations were already cleared to go all digital prior to the original deadline. Nearly 500 more have informed the FCC they still plan to keep the original schedule and make the transition on February 17. In total 681 stations, more than a third of all full power broadcasters in the US, intend to stick with their original plans.
There’s no guarantee all these stations will be allowed to go through with the transition early. The rule changes that go along with the new transition date allow the FCC to force stations to wait until June 12 if commissioners feel it would be “contrary to the public interest” for them to switch over early.
It seems likely the FCC won’t allow that many stations to switch this month. That raises the question of whether there may be lawsuits by broadcasters who are stuck with additional expenses stemming directly from the Federal Government’s sudden change of plans.
