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People On The Move June 26, 2007

Agency Business Wins from WARC June 25, 2007

Agency Business Wins:
Week ending June 22, 2007

Summary Creative duties for financial services specialist Smith Barney have changed hands this week, with IPG’s McCann Erickson taking over from stablemate Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos. Georgia-Pacific has assigned the creative account for its bathroom tissue and paper towel brands to DDB in New York, which the Omnicom agency had previously handled in conjunction with Fallon in Minneapolis. Auto services firm Midas has appointed Starcom to take over media duties, the Publicis agency replacing Carat, while John Deere has handed GSD&M creative and media chores for its $20 million brief. Details>>

About this data Agency Business Wins tracks account wins and losses with estimated annual billings of $5m+, as reported in the trade press. How to use this data >>

	Recent Wins:	Ultimate Fighting Championship ($14.0m), Philips ($598.0m), Fox ($350.0m)
	Recent Losses:	Midas ($40.0m), Royal Mail ($35.5m), Rent-A-Center ($60.0m)

Wins & Losses >>

	Recent Wins:	Kraft ($70.0m), Sears ($782.0m), Coldwell Banker ($100.0m)
	Recent Losses:	Verizon ($340.0m), Hershey ($95.0m), Volvo ($160.0m)

Wins & Losses >>

	Recent Wins:	Smith Barney ($35.0m), Verizon ($340.0m), Verizon ($340.0m)
	Recent Losses:	Smith Barney ($35.0m), John Deere ($20.0m), Staples ($19.0m)

Wins & Losses >>

	Recent Wins:	Georgia-Pacific ($50.0m), John Deere ($20.0m), Best Buy ($200.0m)
	Recent Losses:	Georgia-Pacific ($50.0m), Hoover ($40.0m), The Home Office ($29.8m)

Wins & Losses >>

	Recent Wins:	Midas ($40.0m), New York State ($16.0m), Miller Brewing ($10.0m)< /td>
	Recent Losses:	Georgia-Pacific ($50.0m), TK Maxx ($12.6m), Coldwell Banker ($100.0m)

Wins & Losses >>

	Recent Wins:	Jarden Consumer Solutions ($5.9m), TK Maxx ($12.6m), Royal Bank of Scotland ($9.8m)
	Recent Losses:	John Deere ($20.0m), Kraft ($70.0m), Quiznos ($80.0m)

Wins & Losses >>

Facebook jumps the shark June 25, 2007

Facebook jumps the shark

Posted June 18th, 2007 by David

I’m going to say this was this move.

We know Facebook flyers cost money, that’s fine. They’re non-obtrusive and benefit the users involved. Usually.

Facebook applications are – depending on your view – a) impressing, or b) “MySpacing” (annoying) the hell out of users. As written here before, Applications are another step in opening up Facebook to third-party advertising and profit. Weeks later, applications are cluttering Facebook profile pages like animated gifs and 48 pt Arial type on a crappily put-together Web site.

But sponsored Facebook polls?

Take that, Gallup.

This isn’t enough for the average user to give a thought, but to me it signifies a huge admittance of for-profit efforts at the expense of personal information/opinion. Using News Feed – yes, that controversial, “let’s all riot against Facebook on Facebook” tool – users are subjected to polls that match their profile’s data.

Facebook’s News Feed is now officially the bathroom stall wall of the Internet.

Pollsters have the option of of selecting a target audience in regard to interest, location, age or sex. You can choose to pay 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents or a dollar for each response, at cut offs of 50, 100, 200 and 500 responses. Questions are limited to five responses. The polls aren’t scientific of course, but they likely provide a solid idea of a given demographic’s opinion on a subject … so long as Facebook users don’t BS for the sake of screwing with a poll. Users aren’t likely to see value in doing that though, thus giving the inexpensive polls some sort of actual worth.Targeting is nice, but users failing to update their location or who falsify profile information are likely to skew results without anyone knowing.

Again, nothing shockingly unexpected here from my angle … but will average users care about this? What about future “additions?”

Catch an interesting post here from TechCrunch. Some clever testing revealed that the initial poll system didn’t approve using “MySpace” in a poll question. According to an update on the site, Facebook officials said they resolved the problem, citing outdated code as the cause of the blocked words.

Hm. That’s great that it’s fixed, but I’d like to know why in the hell Fbook had any code blocking those words.

TNS Lowers Ad-Spend Projections for '07 June 18, 2007

WILL LEVITH

JUNE 18, 2007 –

TNS Lowers Ad-Spend Projections for ‘07

TNS Media Intelligence downgraded its 2007 full year forecast last week, predicting ad spending would increase 1.7 percent to $152.3 billion. The ad-tracking research firm had originally forecast advertising to grow 2.6 percent. The first half of the year will be the slowest, increasing by only 1.2 percent, followed by a gain of 2.3 percent in the second half. The new forecast is the smallest annual ad-spending gain since the 2001 recession.

Next New, UGO Give Web-Gamers a Home

Next New Networks, an online video startup focused on ultra-niche content, has partnered with the young male entertainment Web publisher UGO to launch both a series and a community dedicated to massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs are Web-based videogames played live by numerous participants). As part of the multifaceted partnership, Next New has launched Total MMO, a news/community site for junkies of ultrapopular Web-based games like World of Warcraft. At the same time, the company has kicked off MMO Update, a series that features news, reviews and game highlights from the world of MMOGs. The Web-only series is being distributed on both the new site and UGO.com. Next New executives said that several similar Web video series are in the works for the new site and UGO.com.

Verizon, Local Solutions Sign V CAST Pact

Local Solutions Network, a company that aggregates and delivers mobile content to wireless devices for about 140 television stations, last week announced a partnership with Verizon Wireless to deliver local TV video content to V CAST-enabled cell phones in 50 markets. In each of the 50 markets, V CAST owners can access local news, weather and sports video on a dedicated V CAST video channel called Local TV Video. The video channel can be viewed as part of a $15 V CAST monthly subscription. V CAST owners can also pay $3 for 24-hour use of the product. Among the stations that will be available on the V CAST channel include ABC Television Stations, Cox Television, Gray Television, Landmark and Bonneville.

omg! Yahoo Launches Celebrity Channel

Last week, Yahoo launched omg!, a new celebrity-focused channel in the vein of magazines like US Weekly or popular gossip blogs like PerezHilton.com. To stock the female-targeted site with the latest news, photos and video from the celebrity and entertainment world, Yahoo is licensing content from syndictated newsmagazine Access Hollywood, along with pictures from the photo agencies X17 and Splash News. Access will supply the site with at least five original stories and videos each day. At launch, Unilever and Pepsi have signed on as omg!’s exclusive sponsors.

Hartman Joins BBC to Work on Newscast

Former CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes producer Rome Hartman has left the Tiffany network for the BBC, where he will develop and executive produce a new 7 p.m. newscast that will run on BBC America and BBC World News. A 24-year CBS veteran, Hartman served as the executive producer of the network’s nightly newscast from November 2005 through March 2007, and was instrumental in reconfiguring the CBS Evening News when anchor Katie Couric joined the network in September 2006. This spring, Hartman moved into an advisory role after CBS brought on former MSNBC president Rick Kaplan to helm the nightly newscast. The decision to replace Hartman came as Couric failed to deliver on the promise of her debut newscast, which delivered 13.6 million viewers (it currently languishes at just over 7 million). The new BBC newscast will launch in the fall.

BPA Eases Rules for Qualified Circulation

BPA Worldwide has widened its definition of qualified continuous circulation to require business and consumer publications to serve recipients only three months in a row, down from at least six in a row. Publications also may now serve up to 5 percent of total qualified circ for less than three months without disclosing it. BPA also broadened the definition of nonpaid subscriptions, ruling that a title no longer has to be the official publication of an association to be a nonpaid subscription that’s reported as a benefit of membership in the association. To qualify, the association must state that the publication is a membership benefit.

CBS’ Storm Unveils Blog on Net’s Site

Hannah Storm, a co-anchor on CBS morning talker The Early Show, has launched a blog on CBSNews.com. The new blog, which went live on June 11, features Storm providing the show’s fans a behind-the-scenes look at the production of The Early Show, including photos, video clips and commentary from the productions’ staffers. Storm is also putting her personal stamp on the blog, as she plans to regularly post her thoughts on issues tied to motherhood, families and the big news topics of the day, as well as sharing insights from her own experiences anchoring the show.

Trump Brings His Tramp to News Corp.

After being spurned by NBC, Donald Trump is taking his next big television idea to Fox. The News Corp.-owned net and the real estate mogul are developing a contest show in which party girls are transformed into socialites. Aptly titled Lady or a Tramp, the series is based on the U.K. show Ladette to Lady, in which similar transformations occurred. The American version will be produced by RDF Media, with Trump executive producing, along with RDF executives Chris Coelen and Greg Goldman, Trump Prods. president Andy Litinsky, and Bruce Toms (Nanny 911). If the project moves forward, Tramp could hit the airwaves by midseason.

Mags Effective Media in Jeep Campaign

Magazines—alone or in combination with television and online—had a greater impact than other media in last year’s launch campaign of Chrysler Group’s 2007 Jeep Compass. The report, last week released by research company Dynamic Logic, surveyed more than 4,300 people online from July–December 2006 to measure consumers’ media habits and reactions to the campaign. Dynamic also found that in each purchase stage of the Compass, magazines alone or with the Web were the most efficient of all media (TV, magazines, online) and combinations thereof, as measured by cost-per-person by metric and exposure cell. Magazine Publishers of America and Jeep funded the research.

Mag Bag: MPA Finds Magazines Have Major Influence On Consumers June 15, 2007

Soldier and students celebrate Flag Day in Purchase June 15, 2007

Soldier and students celebrate Flag Day in Purchase

Frank Becerra Jr. The Journal News

West Point graduate and former Airborne Ranger Tom Deierlein receives a box of chocolates from students at Purchase Elementary School. Deierlein’s sister Jeanne Tepper is a teacher at the school and arranged for him to speak to the kids on Flag Day

By SARAH JOHNSTON
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: June 15, 2007)

PURCHASE – As her second-grade class at Purchase Elementary School recently learned the Lee Greenwood song “Proud To Be An American,” student Julia DiRusso said it was too bad Tom Deierlein couldn’t hear them.

Deierlein, the brother of Jeanne Tepper, Julia’s second-grade teacher, had been wounded in Iraq. At the time he was recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

So Tepper called Deierlein on her cell phone, and her class sang to him over the phone.

Deierlein spent six months at Walter Reed after being shot in the left hip by a sniper. He is now home in New York and slowly returning to civilian work.

In honor of Flag Day, Deierlein visited the school yesterday and spoke to teachers and students about his experiences in Iraq.

A West Point graduate and former Airborne Ranger, Deierlein had been out of active service for a dozen years and never expected to be called up to serve in Iraq. But when he was, he chose to embrace the call and serve his country.

In Iraq, he was a civil affairs officer working with the local government to build schools, health care centers and water facilities for the local people.

After stopping outside the school yesterday to raise the U.S. flag, Deierlein met with students in grades two through five.

He showed students a slide show of photos of American soldiers helping to supply Iraqi children and families with food, clothing, shoes and toys.

“They are good people just trying to live their lives,” he said.

Asked by a student why war exists, Deierlein responded: “No one ever really wants war. Sometimes it happens, and when it does, we need to make sure everyone is safe.”

Third-grader Ryan Finkelstein, a former student of Tepper’s, gave Deierlein a certificate documenting the tree she planted for him in Israel while on a family trip.

Tepper stressed how proud she was of the students’ support for the troops.

“We’re part of a bigger community,” she said, “within ourselves and within the world.”

Deierlein grew up in West Harrison and now lives in Manhattan. His mother, Katherine Deierlein, was on hand for yesterday’s event.

Before Iraq, Deierlein was chief operating officer of Dynamic Logic, a marketing research company in New York. He has returned to work part-time at the company.

At Walter Reed, Deierlein said, he received countless drawings from children that showed a soldier holding a gun and fighting the enemy. If anything, he said, Deierlein hopes students realize how dangerous that stereotype can be.

“Soldiers,” he said, “are about helping people and keeping people safe.”

Reach Sarah Johnston at sjohnst1@lohud.com or 914-694-5077.

Kellogg to Phase Out Some Food Ads to Children June 14, 2007

Kellogg to Phase Out Some Food Ads to Children

Froot Loops’ days on Saturday morning television may be numbered.

Al Behrman/Associated Press

Froot Loops and Apple Jacks would not make the cut under new nutritional guidelines, but Frosted Flakes would.

The Kellogg Company said yesterday that it would phase out advertising its products to children under age 12 unless the foods meet specific nutrition guidelines for calories, sugar, fat and sodium.

Kellogg also announced that it would stop using licensed characters or branded toys to promote foods unless the products meet the nutrition guidelines.

The voluntary changes, which will be put in place over the next year and a half, will apply to about half of the products that Kellogg currently markets to children worldwide, including Froot Loops and Apple Jacks cereals and Pop-Tarts.

Frosted Flakes, for example and Rice Krispies with Real Strawberries will still make the nutritional cut, though regular Rice Krispies will not (too much salt).

The president and chief executive of Kellogg, David Mackay, said that the products that did not meet the guidelines would either be reformulated so that they did, or no longer be advertised to children.

“It is a big change,” Mr. Mackay said. “Where we can make the changes without negatively impacting the taste of the product, we will.”

If the product cannot be reformulated, Mr. Mackey said, the company will either market it to an older audience or stop advertising it.

The policy changes come 16 months after Kellogg and Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon, were threatened with a lawsuit over their advertising to children by two advocacy groups, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and two Massachusetts parents.

Because of the changes by Kellogg, the groups said that they would not proceed with the lawsuit against the company. Viacom had not negotiated with the groups and was not part of today’s announcement; the groups said that they had not determined if they would proceed with legal action against the broadcaster.

“Kellogg’s position has really evolved over those months from pretty much ‘no way’ to acceptance of some nutrient criteria,” said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. He said he hoped the Kellogg announcement would lead its competitors to adopt even tougher standards for food advertising to children.

Susan Linn, the co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said that Kellogg’s decision to stop using licensed characters on sugary food was particularly significant. “Until now the industry has absolutely dug in their heels,” Ms. Linn said.

In the last several years, health officials have repeatedly warned that the steady stream of food ads aimed at children is contributing to the number of overweight or obese children, which has soared over the last several decades.

Some countries have banned advertising of nutritionally questionable food to children altogether, and some members of Congress have suggested that federal regulation may be needed in the United States, too. The food industry has promised to bolster its own self-regulation.

Last November, for instance, 10 of the largest food and beverage companies, including McDonald’s, General Mills and Kellogg, vowed that at least half of their advertising directed at children under 12 would promote healthier foods or encourage active lifestyles.

The companies also agreed not to advertise in elementary schools and to reduce the use of licensed characters to promote food. Those companies are expected to complete individual plans for how they will address the guidelines in the next 60 days or so.

But like Kellogg, a few companies have already unveiled tougher standards for advertising to children. Last October, for instance, Walt Disney said that it would allow its characters to be used in food advertising only if the products complied with nutritional standards.

And in 2005, Kraft Foods announced that it would stop advertising products to children under 12 that did not meet specific nutrition guidelines.

Under Kellogg’s new guidelines, food advertised on television, radio, Web sites and in print that have an audience that is 50 percent or more of children under 12 will have to meet the new nutrition standards. Kellogg already had a policy of not aiming advertising at children younger than 6, so the new guidelines apply to children 6 through 11.

Kellogg officials said that about 27 percent of its advertising budget in the United States aims at that age group. They declined to give the dollar value of that budget.

Under the new standards, one serving of food must have no more than 200 calories, no trans fat, no more than 2 grams of saturated fat, no more than 230 milligrams of sodium (except for Eggo frozen waffles) and no more than 12 grams of sugar.

Cocoa Krispies cereal would not qualify because one serving has 14 grams of sugar. But Kellogg could still advertise Frosted Flakes to children because it has 11 grams of sugar. Shrek cereal does not meet the criteria because it has 15 grams of sugar a serving and uses a licensed character.

In a related initiative, Kellogg said it would introduce Nutrition at a Glance labels on the top right corner of cereal boxes this year.

Already introduced in Europe and Australia, the new labels will take information from the Nutrition Facts panel on the side of the boxes, which are mandated by the federal government, and highlight important parts on the front of the box.

The new labels will show consumers the percentage of calories, total fat and sodium in a single serving, based on a 2,000-calorie daily diet, and will also display grams of sugar and nutrients like fiber and calcium.

Elementary School Kids Partcipate in Advertising Panel Reveals Shocking Discovery " Kids are affected by advertisments aimed at them" June 14, 2007

How It All Ad-ed Up

When Kids Focus on Commercials, They Are Chock Full of Opinions

Wednesday, June 13, 2007; Page C14

When companies want to know if their television commercials will work, they consult kids in what are called focus groups. So when KidsPost wanted to know if an ad for Cocoa Krispies cereal worked, we went to the experts: four fourth-graders and four sixth-graders from Chevy Chase Elementary School.

We showed each group a television commercial for the cereal and asked the kids to write what they thought the main idea was, what they liked about it and what they disliked.

We also talked with them and found out some interesting things:

· The kids got the message of the ad — that the cereal tastes great.

· Generally, the kids thought the boy in the ad was pretty cool, with the fourth-graders emphasizing that more than the sixth-graders.

· They also noticed information that wasn’t included in the commercial. All the kids thought there should be some talk about nutrition, with the older kids emphasizing that more than the fourth-graders.

· Landon Harris, a fourth-grader, thought the ad’s use of the adjectives “crunchy, chocolately” were good choices.

· Malcolm Steinberg, a sixth-grader, said the commercial portrayed “an intense flavor experience,” although he was skeptical about the nutritional value and said he doesn’t usually eat cereal for breakfast.

· Sixth-grader Kobi Marshall said she thought the ad was aimed at boys and that girls would have a harder time relating to the boy in the ad.

NBC, Group M Strike First Upfront Deal June 14, 2007

NBC, Group M Strike First Upfront Deal

More Than $800M Includes All Dayparts, Cable, Spanish-Language and Branded Content

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By Brian Steinberg

Published: June 13, 2007

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Group M and NBC Universal have completed one of the first significant upfront deals, according to executives close to the negotiations. The deal, said to be worth between $800 million and $1 billion, includes all NBC dayparts, all of its cable channels which include Bravo and SciFi, Spanish-language network Telemundo and branded content.

The deal was done with client-specific strategies in mind, one executive said, and the metric used was Nielsen’s new commercial ratings, live plus three — meaning that any viewers who watched the commercials three days after they aired would be counted.

Client-specific strategies
The deal was done with client-specific strategies in mind, one executive said, and the metric used was Nielsen’s new commercial ratings, live plus three — meaning that any viewers who watched the commercials three days after they aired would be counted. Cost-per-thousand rates were not disclosed.

According to media buyers who spoke with Ad Age, NBC in general was asking for 10% to 12% increases in its CPM rate, while ABC was asking for 12% and Fox was the most aggressive, asking for 14%. Last year, NBC booked $1.9 billion in upfront sales. Combined, the broadcast networks booked an estimated $8.5 billion to $9 billion last year.

Smart move
Going to NBC first is a smart strategy for buyers, since it is in the weakest position of all the broadcast networks due to its declining ratings last season. By starting with NBC, media buyers may be hoping to set the bar for any negotiations that follow.

WPP’s Group M, which is the parent company for media agencies Mindshare, Mediaedge:cia, Maxus and Mediacom, works with marketers such as Ford Motor Co., Pfizer, Kimberly Clark, American Express and Microsoft’s XBox.

Google lobbies for 'open' wireless networks June 14, 2007

Google and its allies may have lost key Capitol Hill votes on Net neutrality laws last year, but now they’re mounting a counterattack: a lobbying effort to extend similar rules to forthcoming wireless broadband networks.

As part of a congressionally mandated switchover to digital television broadcasts, the federal government is preparing to auction off a generous chunk of the 700MHz broadcast TV band by early next year. Wireless companies are eager to bid on it because its signals can travel farther and easily penetrate walls–qualities that lend themselves to widespread, wireless broadband networks.

But a key question, set to be discussed at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday morning, is whether open access rules–a close cousin of last year’s legislative tussles over Net neutrality–should be levied on at least some of the companies that win licenses through the auction. In charge of deciding that point is the Federal Communications Commission, which is still finalizing its rules for the proceeding.

That has led to a renewal of old alliances. On one side are last year’s Net neutrality proponents, including liberal advocacy groups, wireless technologists and companies like Google, which say that federal regulators must step in and impose “open access” rules. Otherwise, they claim, only a few powerful companies will control this prized chunk of spectrum.

On the other side are the telecommunications giants such as AT&T that blocked extensive Net neutrality rules in the House of Representatives and the Senate last year–and are invoking the same free-market arguments a second time. An AT&T filing with the FCC, for instance, says one Google proposal should be rejected because the market will determine how spectrum should be used.

Advocates affiliated with the pro-Net neutrality Save the Internet lobby group wrote in a recent letter to the FCC: “If the FCC simply gives the highest bidder exclusive rights over the new airwaves, phone and cable companies could become permanent gatekeepers of the airwaves–continuing their record of keeping new competition and innovation out of the marketplace.”

Google has also been pressing the FCC to reserve a portion of that spectrum (the 722-728MHz band) to be used primarily or exclusively for broadband communications. Final comments on that proposal were due on Wednesday. (Google did not answer all questions posed by CNET News.com about its auction stance on Wednesday, but a representative did send a statement saying, “the FCC should be adopting flexible rules that encourage competitive entry by new and innovative broadband companies.”)

Participants in the broader open access effort include the advocacy groups Public Knowledge, MoveOn.org and the Media Access Project, along with Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig. More than 250,000 people submitted comments to the FCC calling for an “open, accessible and affordable” Internet, the group says.

Also in the open access camp is Frontline Wireless, a start-up backed by major Silicon Valley venture capitalists that has proposed a controversial plan to build a public safety network on those airwaves.

Old alliances reunite
Although their individual positions differ on some points, they all generally want the FCC to guarantee that at least a portion of the new spectrum is made available at “fair-market” wholesale prices to anyone who wants to use it. They also want regulators to require that users have the freedom to connect the devices of their choosing to the network, so long as they abide by a “do no harm” mantra.

“This would be a way of getting people who might not be able to afford to bid on spectrum to get into the game,” said Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge.

It would also prevent more powerful companies from “warehousing” valuable unused spectrum that could be used by competitors to provide additional services, his group and its allies have argued.

Some groups would like to take the open access idea even further. A group of 15 wireless industry entrepreneurs led by Virgin Mobile USA co-founder Amol Sarva is asking the FCC to set aside one sixth of commercial spectrum as an open “sandbox,” where smaller entrepreneurs and inventors can play with new ideas without having to get permission from one of the “big four” network operators–AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile.

“Having to engage with the Big 4 at each cycle in the process can slow time to market and increase risks and costs for the entrepreneur,” the group, Wireless Founders for Innovation Coalition, said in a letter to the FCC (PDF) last week.

It’s unclear how those ideas will fare before the FCC. The agency’s two Democratic commissioners have tended to be sympathetic to stricter regulations imposed on network operators, but the remaining three Republicans have long maintained further regulations aren’t necessary. The commission has already adopted a set of four broadband connectivity principles, which state, among other things, that network operators must generally allow their subscribers to connect the devices and browse the content they wish.

The open access proposals have also encountered fierce resistance from the wireless industry and from politicians with free-market leanings.

On the eve of the Senate’s hearing, six Republican senators sent a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, urging the regulators to resist “encumbering rules which suppress interest in the auction,” such as open access and Net neutrality mandates.

“There are few markets in America that are more competitive, vibrant and innovative than wireless,” said Joe Farren, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, which represents m
ajor wireless companies. “The last thing we need to do is upend that very successful marketplace by imposing 1970s-style regulatory mandates upon it.”

Farren pointed to the example of Apple’s iPhone and its collaboration with AT&T to see that the market is working just fine without added regulations. And besides, no one’s stopping the companies that favor the “sandbox” idea or other regulations from bidding in the auction themselves, Farren added. (Google, for example, says it’s not sure whether it will be participating in the auction.)

“Go to the auction like everybody else does, bid on the spectrum, and if you have a great business plan and if you think that plan is going to work in the marketplace, go for it,” he said. “But don’t try to get a government regulation passed to protect your so-called business plan. That’s certainly not the free market at work.”

Net neutrality through the back door
The spectrum has also generated new talk of enacting Net neutrality regulations, which would prohibit network operators from prioritizing any Internet devices or services and from making deals with outside companies to provide priority access in exchange for extra fees.

By contrast, major broadband providers in the telephone and cable industries say they deserve the right to manage their networks as they wish and to charge fees as they see fit to offset the costs of new, more advanced equipment.

But such carriers, particularly in the wireless sector, have a poor track record for giving consumers the choices they’re looking for, consumer groups argue. “Absent regulatory changes that would require wireless networks to operate in a neutral manner and permit subscribers to attach devices to their networks, it seems remarkably unrealistic to assume that any of the national incumbents will change their behavior,” they wrote in a letter to the FCC.

A 2008 presidential hopeful said he’s also on board with the idea. In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin late last month, former Democratic North Carolina Sen. John Edwards urged the regulators to set aside as much as half of the spectrum for wholesalers who can lease to smaller start-ups that would be willing to build broadband networks in rural and underserved areas. He also said they must require anyone who wins control of the spectrum to adhere to nondiscrimination rules, allowing consumers to hook up the devices and browse the Web sites they wish.

Google, for its part, said it’s skeptical that the spectrum auction alone will assuage concerns that dominant network operators will become gatekeepers capable of squeezing out smaller or shallower-pocketed content providers. Company telecommunications and media counsel Richard Whitt argued in the search giant’s most recent FCC filing that regulators shouldn’t write off the need for Net neutrality rules on a broader level because of what he called “a significant lack of effective broadband competition in this country.”

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