The Comcast/BitTorrent agreement is a pleasant development that should not lull the Federal Communications Commission into complacency. The story can be found here. The net neutrality question has not been answered simply because Comcast said it will figure out a way not to block or degrade the file sharing technology of BitTorrent by year end.

I could go on about the 700 MHz auction, but I won't. A bit slammed here so I turn it over to Daily Democracy's friends at wetmachine. Harold Feld's take on the auction can be found here.

Listens of traditional and Internet radio woke up to a new KEXP. The much beloved independent Seattle station started airing its morning show hosted by DJ John Richards in New York. The Seattle Times story can be found here.

TVW is airing the Washington Coalition for Open Government's, Sunshine Week Town Hall meeting. The broadcast starts at 4 p.m., today.

Tribune is consolidating its South Florida television station and newspaper into a single location. WSFL, a CW affiliate, will be moving into the South Florida Sun-Sentinel building.

The fact that Tribune is allowed to own a television station in the same market as the Sun-Sentinel is bad policy. According to a story in the Sun-Sentinel, the newspaper's executives are saying that this arrangement will be good for advertisers and will put the media outlets in a better position to attract a younger audience.

The House followed up on the Senate's attempt to stop the Federal Communications Commission from implementing rule changes that would allow for massive media consolidation.

The "resolution of disapproval" could stop the FCC from lifting the cross-ownership ban. The rule does not allow a company to own a newspaper, television station, and radio station in the same market. The FCC changed the rule in December allowing a single company to own newspaper, broadcast outlet, and Internet Service Provider in the same market. The FCC claims the change will only touch the nation's top 20 media markets. Not exactly. It was worded in a way so companies that do not meet the criteria can apply for waivers, essentially opening up consolidation in every media market.

The era of independently owned newspapers has passed. That does not mean the model can't make a comeback. An essay in this month's Columbia Journalism Review, which can be found here, looks at one of the few remaining independent metro newspapers and its ownership structure.

Here is a link to a short piece about Russian democracy by Spencer P. Boyer and James D. Lamond at The Root.

The Anniston Star, one of America's great family owned newspapers, is running a series about the impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The series, which can be found here and was penned by the newspaper's editor at large John Fleming, shows readers the negative results the legislation has had on northeast Alabama.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., introduced a "resolution of disapproval" to stop new media ownership rules recently adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. The story can be found here.

Here are some links to pieces that spun from the Federal Communications Commission hearing at Harvard University last week. We at The Seattle Times editorialized today about the need for net neutrality. The edit can be found here. And here is a first person account of the hearing from our friends at Wetmachine.

James Fallows has an entertaining post on his blog at The Atlantic. The post can be found here.

The Atlantic polled a number of foreign policy experts about the future of democracy around the world. The results can be found here.

What are the presidential candidates policies for the press, media, the Internet, broadband, cable and telecommunications? I touched on this question in my column yesterday, which can be found here.