With 4G LTE networks that offer speeds comparable to Wi-Fi on-the-go, “the future of any content,nanywhere, anytime is right here, right now,” said FCC acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. “Thesentechnical changes have been massively disruptive for both the news and entertainment media, creating realnchallenges,” she said Tuesday at a Media Institute event in Washington for Freedom of Speech Week.nDigital piracy has cost intellectual property creators billions of dollars, she said. “With subscribers shiftingnto online alternatives, and with advertisers doing the same, cash-strapped newsrooms laid off 13,400nreporters in the preceding four years.” There also are opportunities in the digital age, she said. Digitalntechnology enables more piracy, “but it also enables the creation and consumption of massive amounts ofnentertainment,” like content via on-demand and streaming media platforms, she said. “No one should benleft unable to access the fruits of tomorrow’s journalism or the many other benefits of the InformationnAge.” NAB President Gordon Smith received the American Horizon Award. House CommunicationsnSubcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who introduced Smith, credited him with urging broadcastersnto embrace mobile DTV, allowing them to deliver broadcast signals to consumers wherever theynare: “As consumers’ appetite for local TV on-the-go continues, Gordon has urged broadcasters ... to meetnthe consumers’ desire for more live and local TV content.” Many broadcasters risk life and limb to covernemergency situations, said Smith. Whether it’s the telephone, Internet or cable business, “everything thatnwe do drips with constitutional implications,” he said. AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan also attended thenevent and received the Freedom of Speech Award.
展开▼
