FCC Asked To Keep Hands Off IP Video

FCC ASKED TO KEEP HANDS OFF IP VIDEO
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Internet TV company Network2 has asked the FCC to declare the Commission has no authority to regulate video over the Internet because it is not a cable or broadcast TV service. "The considerable barriers to entry that characterize broadcast and cable services - spectrum licenses, local franchises, dedicated infrastructure, significant commitments of capital, the need for critical mass viewership - simply do not apply to Internet Video services," the company argues. "For a society that values open expression, and for an agency that promotes national policies favoring a diversity of viewpoints in electronic media, Internet Video promises public interest benefits that exceed all prior goals for media diversity." Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, says such a ruling would be premature. "Multiplaform access rules will be needed for political speech on mobile and IPTV platforms," he says. "Rules protecting news and public affairs and advertising safeguards will be needed, including protecting children," he said.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6426258.html?display=Breaking+News

VIACOM MEETS WITH FCC TO BOOST JOOST
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Viacom executives have spent much of the last two months lobbying the Federal Communication Commission's top brass on key broadcast regulation issues—at least nine meetings with the agency since early February. On Thursday, March 15th, Viacom's CEO Philippe Dauman and Executive VP DeDe Lea met with FCC Chair Kevin Martin to extol Viacom's new deal with Joost -- a beta-testing stage Web site that they described as "an online, broadcast-quality video service that will feature hundreds of hours of free, ad-supported Viacom content -- much like traditional television." "Without government intervention," Viacom's filed statement concludes, "Viacom content is migrating to the Internet and mobile phones, thereby providing consumers with greater choice in programming and pricing." The comments did not mention whether the group discussed Viacom's request for government intervention in the case of Google's YouTube service.
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/380