Bounties Offered

• Who Gets Cable? Why We Don’t Know and Why that Matters $ 5000

  Measuring cable penetration in the US is critical to a wide range of communications policymaking, from broadband deployment strategies, to  public access TV requirements, to the contentious conversation around ‘a la carte’ cable—the debundling of programming.  In the fall of 2007, it became apparent that the FCC had no good way to measure cable penetration in the United States.  FCC conversations about its regulatory role with respect to cable were blocked for lack of good data. As a result, the FCC placed a new emphasis on gathering accurate data and will seek comment on appropriate methodologies.  How was it possible for the FCC to err so badly?  What standards should the FCC adopt going forward?  The Media Access Project seeks a collaborator who can provide an account of this process and help develop an effective strategy for FCC data collection on cable penetration.

• Are HD radio stations serving the public interest? $ 5000

  HD radio has the potential to reinvigorate radio through the creation of anywhere from three to five times the number of stations than are currently possible in a local market with analog technologies. However, HD radio’s rollout has also raised a number of questions. The FCC has essentially handed over this additional spectrum to incumbent broadcasters without thinking seriously about the long-term implications of this transition, how it related to media ownership in local markets and its bearing on the Commission’s public interest obligations.
  
  FMC proposes a HD radio playlist analysis project during which a researcher would examine HD radio programming, and determine whether programming is increasing diversity, or addressing local issues or community interests. The completed research would be published and submitted to the FCC, along with any appropriate policy recommendations that would be determined based on the results.

• A Strategy, Acquisition, and Revenue Model of Evangelical Radio Networks $ 5000

  Low-power FM (LPFM) was established to give non-profit, educational organizations an outlet for local programming and community news. Religious organizations, many of them evangelical Christian churches, comprise approximately half of the applicants for low-power FM licenses approved by the FCC. Evangelical broadcasting corporations have also been effective in leveraging the low-power translator service, which allows a primary FM station to be simultaneously rebroadcast on a different frequency, to start hundreds of low-cost translator stations across the country.   We would like to see a research project that explores the business models of the major Christian broadcasting companies—their organizational structure, sources of revenue, financial make-up, and affiliate churches. The research should also determine what links these organizations have to larger social movements and in what way and to what extent the stations serve their local communities. Analysis of the local/non-local nature of the programming on these stations, and their local public service would also be very illuminating and useful.
  

• Measuring Ethnic Media’s Online Capacity $ 5000

  The desired study would be an assessment of the online capacity of ethnic media in the United States. The study should include a quantitative poll as well as a qualitative assessment of the barriers that exist in getting them online, as well as, what they need in order to cross the “digital divide.” The results of this study will allow New America Media to formulate and implement strategies for assisting ethnic media news outlets, particularly newspapers, in establishing a robust web presence, expeditiously and economically.