If it wasn’t sufficiently clear that Ford is paying for those Mustangs on TV, or who’s supplying all that Coca-Cola to the American Idol judges, the Federal Communications Commission may make everyone involved in this obfuscation ‘fess up.
    
According to the Wall Street Journal, the FCC is expected to launch a formal proceeding this week to consider rules for proper disclosure of what the industry calls product placement: the frequently annoying inclusion of brand names into scripts for TV shows, movies and, according to some, novels.
    
Some ideas under consideration include requiring TV shows to put up a notice similar to the ones used by political candidates in their campaign ads. The Journal says U.S. advertisers, who are already shelling out several billion dollars a year on these stealth ads, are opposed to the idea.
    
We can’t help but question whether such notices would effectively become a second plug for a product, at least in the minds of consumers. Or does the explicitness of it all reduce any potential “cool” factor of having your vacuum cleaner featured in a Saturday Night Live skit? 

Keep an eye on:

• Beatles representatives are in talks with both Activision and MTV Games to create a Beatles-themed video game in a move that could pave the way for a broader licensing of the Fab Four’s catalogue. (Financial Times)
• MySpace is STILL worth more than Facebook, according to a TechCrunch analysis.
• Oh, and even more executives have defected from Yahoo than even they originally thought. (TechCrunch)

Walt Mossberg, the world’s most powerful technology product reviewer, opened the final session of the D: All Things Digital conference with an angry tirade against the s-s-s-low state of broadband in the United States.

“WE ARE VERY SLOW,” Mossberg complained of U.S. Internet access speeds.

The target of 61-year-old Uncle Walt’s wrath was Kevin Martin, 42, the boyish-looking chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who was punished on-stage before an audience of high-tech industry insiders.

Mossberg: “You are the head of the FCC. How have you allowed this to happen? I AM DEAD SERIOUS. HOW HAVE YOU ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN?

Martin: “I am not sure I am solely responsible. I am also not sure the charts capture the whole story. I think you do have to put in the context some of the demographics of the United States and some of the countries we are competing against.

Mossberg: Does that explain why we pay $12.50 per megabit in the United States as opposed to $3.09 in Japan and $3.70 in France? Why are we paying four times as much?

Martin: Yes it does. Because it costs a lot more to build out in more rural areas and people who live further apart… We have a history of averaging some of the cost to make it affordable for people in Montana.

Martin should have seen it coming. Mossberg has been on a crusade over slow broadband speeds for some time, including a call to stop calling slower-speed DSL “broadband.” It’s just one of the many things that annoy him about how computer and consumer electronics industries treat their consumers. Other pet peeves include junk programs pre-installed by PC makers Mossberg calls craplets and any device that doesn’t aspire to Apple-scale product design genius.

Here are the stats that Mossberg and Martin were debating:

(Photos: Reuters)

Who needs competition when you have a nice big merger to complete? After 13 months of Congressional haggling that would have put John McCain to shame, Sirius chief Mel Karmazin won U.S. Department of Justice approval for his $5 billion marriage with XM Satellite Radio.
    
Sure they’re the only two subscription radio operators, but with all those iTunes downloads and Web radio personalities, there’s no need to think anyone will suffer with Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey in their exclusive hands.   
    
Most expect the FCC will come through with the final green-light for XM and Sirius to close the deal, and then the real work on actually making money from satellite will begin.
    
We’re still a little stuck on the regulatory landscape that seems to err on the side of bigness, from Verizon and AT&T’s billion-dollar wireless spectrum wins, to a push from underdogs like Microsoft and Google to use the blank spaces of TV spectrum for mobile Internet and the ability to even contemplate a scenario in which Rupert Murdoch buys Newsday.
    
Let the games begin.

Reuters, Deal Journal, Silicon Alley Insider

Keep an eye on:

• Google unveiled plans for a new generation of wireless devices to operate on soon-to-be-vacant television airwaves, and sought to alleviate fears that this might interfere with TV broadcasts or wireless microphones.  (Reuters)
• Fox Broadcasting asked U.S. regulators to reconsider indecency fines the government imposed last month on 13 Fox television stations for airing episodes of a reality TV show in 2003.  (Reuters)
• Hulu video site looks great, but in terms of consistently good service, not so much. (Silicon Alley Insider)
• The CEO of Sony BMG Music Entertainment tells the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German!) that the company is developing an online music subscription service that would give users unlimited access to its music and be compatible with a host of digital music players.
  (Associated Press)

(Photo: Reuters / Mel Karmazin)

The FCC took in a record haul of $19.6 billion from its auction of wireless airwaves, but the real story will unfold in the next few days when we find out who won the hundreds of licenses issued.

FCC chief Kevin Martin said he would make that list public after commissioners approve an order to formally end the auction.

High on the guess list is Verizon Wireless, which many in the industry believe paid as much as $4.74 billion for the coveted “C” block of spectrum. That block carries requirements — advocated by Web search leader Google Inc — that it be accessible to any device or software application.

Add in a recent interview in which Eric Schmidt talks about Verizon’s recent visits to the Googleplex and “commitment to open access,” and it starts to seem like that ringing noise you hear just might be the Google phone.
(Reuters) (WSJ)

Keep an eye on:
* Dow Jones & Co, now in the hands of Rupert Murdoch, will end a 40-year partnership with the Associated Press after the AP asked for more money.
(Reuters)

* Adobe Systems Inc. has begun work to create a media player destined for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, adding a new wrinkle to a standoff between the two long-term partners.
(WSJ)

* News Corp.’s Fox passed CBS as the most-watched television network after its “American Idol” singing contest topped ratings and the Hollywood writers strike limited competition from scripted shows.
(LATimes)
(Reuters photo of Kevin Martin)