For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
INDECENCY/BROADCASTING
Hill Takes Pass on DTV, Smut
FCC Crackdown Could Spread
Bono's New Casualty: 'Private Ryan'
FCC Must Sharpen Indecency Guidelines
A Racy TV Promo Gets Iced, and So Does 'Private Ryan'
Protect Young Eyes and Ears
Desperate Move Likely Would Get Walt's Approval
Sinclair's News Central
CABLE
FCC Report Pans a la Carte
PTC Blasts Basic
Fox News Channel Can Air In Canada, Regulator Says
INTERNET
A Nation Online: Entering the Broadband Age
Web Media Buyouts Coming? Kinda
Web Tax Holiday
QUICKLY: Karmazin to Sirius; Adelstein, CPB Nominees testify before Senate
Commerce;
Pappas get more time to appeal
INDECENCY/BROADCASTING
HILL TAKES PASS ON DTV, SMUT
Speaking after the Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday, Sen John
McCain (R-AZ) said Congress will not try to pass indecency legislation or a
digital TV transition plan this year. Too many lawmakers want to add
controversial provisions to a bill that would raise fines for indecency
violations and require the FCC to take the violations into account when
renewing TV and radio licenses to pass the legislation quickly.
Broadcasters can rest easy, however. "Sooner or later this is going to be
enacted," he said. On the issue of the transition to DTV, McCain said:
"It's too big an issue with the American people." Congress will pass a
non-binding resolution stating when lawmakers want TV stations to complete
the switch to DTV and return their old analog channels to the government,
he predicted. The date of the proposed deadline was still under negotiation.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Bill McConnell ]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA481593?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
FCC CRACKDOWN COULD SPREAD
With support from both Republicans and Democrats, the FCC is poised to get
even more aggressive about enforcing moral values throughout broadcasting,
even putting cable television and satellite radio in its cross hairs. It
looks like only the courts will stand in the way of the FCC now, but
conservative judges might just say no. After all, not too long ago the
Supreme Court rejected efforts to censor the Internet. The FCC guidelines
remain vague, making it unclear exactly what is allowed. "The FCC has been
trying to hide behind ambiguity, but that ambiguity has problems," said
Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project. While
clearer rules sound good in principle, Schwartzman said they're unlikely to
pass constitutional muster. "The various pending appeals are going to force
the FCC to clarify, but once clarified I'm not sure things will stick up in
court."
[SOURCE: Wired News, AUTHOR: Randy Dotinga]
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65734,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1
BONO'S NEW CASUALTY: 'PRIVATE RYAN'
[Commentary] What has changed since ABC affiliates aired "Saving Private
Ryan" in 2002? A government with the zeal to control both information and
culture has received what it calls a mandate. Media owners who once might
have thought that complaints by the American Family Association about a
movie like "Saving Private Ryan" would go nowhere are keenly aware that the
administration wants to reward its base. Merely the threat that the FCC
might punish a TV station or a network is all that's needed to push them
onto the slippery slope of self-censorship before anyone in Washington even
bothers to act. This is McCarthyism, "moral values" style. If these media
outlets are afraid to show a graphic Hollywood treatment of a 60-year-old
war starring the beloved Tom Hanks because the feds might fine them, toy
with their licenses or deny them permission to expand their empires, might
they defensively soften their news divisions' efforts to present the
graphic truth of an ongoing war? The pressure groups that are exercised by
Bono and "Saving Private Ryan" are often the same ones who are campaigning
to derail any news organization that's not towing the administration line
in lockstep with Fox. In this diet of "news" championed by the right,
there's no need for actual reporters who gather facts firsthand by leaving
their laptops and broadcast booths behind and risking their lives to bear
witness to what is actually happening on the ground in places like Falluja
and Baghdad. The facts of current events can become as ideologically
fungible as the scientific evidence supporting evolution. Whatever
comforting version of events supports your politics is the "news."
[SOURCE: New York Times 11/21, AUTHOR: Frank Rich]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/arts/21rich.html
(requires registration)
FCC MUST SHARPEN INDECENCY GUIDELINES
[Commentary] The decision by roughly a third of all ABC Network affiliates
to pull the Academy Award-winning epic movie "Saving Private Ryan" last
week because of fear of fines and other penalties by the Federal
Communications Commission is an appalling example of how the recent
campaign against so-called indecency on television is having a chilling
effect on free speech. The FCC's mixed signals and the endless posturing by
Congress and the White House have the effect of impeding free TV at a time
it is in a fight for its very existence. It is a joke for politicians to
think they can control what anyone will watch. Timid programming will just
drive even more viewers to cable and satellite TV, where movies like
"Saving Private Ryan" may be seen uncut without any problem. It is time for
the FCC and Congress to make the rules crystal clear and level the playing
field for everyone.
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=26468
A RACY TV PROMO GETS ICES, AND SO DOES 'PRIVATE RYAN'
[Commentary] What's to be made of the ruckus? Perhaps just that TV viewers
are perfectly capable of expressing their distaste for content and getting
results. Were it not for the agency that sets standards for over-the-air
TV, the Federal Communications Commission, this would be just a simple
story about a minor mistake quickly corrected. But nothing is simple when
you're the taste police. Certainly TV gives parents plenty to complain
about. But the FCC's attempts to dictate taste leave only a muddled mess.
The erectile-dysfunction ads proliferate untouched. So does a wide
assortment of sexually suggestive programming. And that's before getting to
the sex on cable TV, which, thankfully, is beyond the FCC's reach.
Meanwhile, Saving Private Ryan gets canned, even though viewers could
easily be alerted to the sensitivity of the content. So pipe up, turn the
dial, organize boycotts. But don't ask Powell to be your nanny. No
government censor is up to the task.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20041119/edit19.art.htm
PROTECT YOUNG EARS AND EYES
[Commentary] ABC's Monday Night Football opener is an excellent example of
why simply changing the channel or turning off the TV is not a viable
option for the viewing public. ABC gave no rating, no warning. Nothing
prepared parents for intro when millions of kids were tuned in for a
football game. ABC and the other networks are media giants, making an
offended viewer's voice less than a blip on their radar screen. They can
ignore you, but they can't ignore the FCC. AMA believes it should be OK to
air "Saving Private Ryan" on TV -- just not during primetime. The FCC has
clearly stated that broadcasting the "F" word is illegal between the hours
of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children are likely to be watching TV. ABC made
the conscious decision to violate the law. As a result, the network should
be fined for breaking the rules it agreed to when it won its broadcast
license. Breaking rules on the public airwaves should be dealt with in the
same way as breaking rules on a public street, for instance, by speeding in
a school zone. It isn't right to tell parents, "If you don't like the way I
drive, keep your kids at home."
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Randy Sharp, American Family Association]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20041119/oppose19.art.htm
DESPERATE MOVE LIKELY WOULD GET WALT'S APPROVAL
[Commentary] Lots of free press and millions of people talking about the
Monday Night Football intro -- do you think executives at Disney tickled
pink by the reaction?
[SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel, AUTHOR: David Whitley]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/orl-sptwhitley18111804nov18...
SINCLAIR'S NEWS CENTRAL
[Media Matters for America is a research and information center dedicated
to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative
"misinformation" in the U.S. media.] MMFA has been analyzing Sinclair's
News Central broadcasts since election day and finds a "steady diet of
pro-Bush, anti-progressive news items." "Get This" is program segment
created by News Central, Sinclair's Maryland-based nerve center that
provides national and international news coverage, as well as commentary,
to its stations. Presented each weeknight by Sinclair News Central anchors
Jennifer Gladstone or Morris Jones, "Get This" purports to cover "the news
items that deserve public attention that you probably won't see anywhere
else. They either won't make time for them, or maybe the issues are too
'sensitive' for their audience." According to News Central's website, "Get
This" claims to "play no favorites." But while the segment features many
humorous or lighthearted stories, the overall issue selection conveys a
conservative agenda, focusing on topics such as Democrats' alleged
inability to deal with electoral defeat; liberal college professors; author
and documentarian Michael Moore's comments; and even President George W.
Bush's pets.
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America]
http://mediamatters.org/items/200411180001
CABLE
FCC REPORT PANS A LA CARTE
Back in May, House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Reps.
John Dingell (D-MI), Fred Upton (R-MI), Edward Markey (D-MA) and Nathan
Deal (R-GA) asked the FCC to study the per-channel sale of cable television
programming, known in French-obsessed Washington as a la carte. On
Thursday, the FCC released that report to Congress, addressing the economic
issues as well as the possible effect indecent/objectionable programming.
In short, the FCC concluded that a la carte would not lower cable bills.
"We don't come out and say that, but there are plenty of inferences that we
certainly don't recommend that," said an FCC source known only as Op Out.
"It doesn't really endorse anything. It just gives a lot of merit to the
operators -- big and, most notably, small [operators] -- and programmers
that mandatory a la carte would broadly be a problem." On rate issues, FCC
economists concluded that the purchase of nine networks a la carte would
about equal the prices consumers pay for expanded basic. A la carte would
likely lead to higher bills because the average cable home watches 17
channels, including local TV stations. In other words, consumers would pay
more to maintain access to their favorite channels. The report also
concluded that the cable and direct-broadcast satellite industries' efforts
to promote their digital blocking technologies were preferable to
program-sale mandates that would threaten pay TV's long-established
business model of grouping channels in large tiers.
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA481516.html?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA481597?display=Breaking+News
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=6758
Proponents of a la carte were quick to react:
"The study was rigged against consumers in favor of large cable companies,
giant broadcasters and other media behemoths," said Gene Kimmelman, senior
director for public policy and advocacy for Consumers Union, the non-profit
publisher of Consumer Reports. "If the FCC had studied our actual proposal
- a voluntary a la carte and mixed-channel bundling approach targeting
digital cable subscribers - it would have concluded that it would lead to
lower prices, greater choice and more diverse programming for consumers."
PTC BLASTS BASIC
The Parents Television Council had its own recommendations for Congress on
cable programming: Either Congress should start regulating cable indecency,
says PTC, or it should give viewers the chance to put together their own
family-friendly lineups through a la carte offerings. PTC argues that
customers should not have to subsidize "filth" to get access to "the
wholesome, educational and family-friendly programming available on a
handful of basic cable channels."
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA481459.html?display=Breaking+...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
FOX NEWS CHANNEL CAN AIR IN CANADA, REGULATOR SAYS
Finally Canadians will can the fairness and balance they deserve. The
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled that it
is OK for cable operators there to offer Fox News Channel because the
channel "offers little or no Canadian coverage" and said the network's
"news/talk programs are more focused on editorial opinion and discussion"
than those of Canadian channels CBC Newsworld and CTV Newsnet. What better
replacement for Saturday night hockey?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110081952721078637,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
INTERNET
A NATION ONLINE: ENTERING THE BROADBAND AGE
The sixth report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce examining the
use of computers, the Internet, and other information technology tools by
the American people. Between the Census Bureau's Current Population Surveys
conducted in September 2001 and October 2003, the number of households with
Internet connections grew by 12.6% and a transition is underway from
dial-up to high-speed Internet connections. The use of high-speed Internet
connections grew significantly between 2001 and 2003 and more than offset
the decline in dial-up users. For this reason, this report focuses on what
Americans are doing with their high-speed connections.
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/anol/index.html
WEB MEDIA BUYOUTS COMING? KINDA
According to Sam Whitmore, editor of Sam Whitmore's Media Survey, over the
next 12 to 24 months you will probably see big media companies scarf up
blogs, where a growing number of people are going for opinions, analysis
and community.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65748,00.html
WEB TAX HOLIDAY
A WSJ editorial in support of the move by Congress to extend the Internet
(access) tax moratorium.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110082815875778942,00.html?mod=todays...
(requires subscription)
QUICKLY
Ex-Viacom President Mel Karmazin has agreed to be the CEO of Sirius
Satellite Radio, hooking up again with Howard Stern. Karmazin was for years
a power in the radio business, building Infinity Broadcasting into one of
the most powerful station groups before selling it to Westinghouse/CBS,
which was in turn acquired by Viacom. Karmazin was Stern's boss at
Infinity, where he went to bat for the broadcaster when he was attacked by
some legislators pushing the company to muzzle the shock jock.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA481580?display=Breaking+News&...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
Statement of Commissioner Adelstein Before the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Nominations Hearing
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-254395A1.doc
Gay Hart Gaines, Claudia Puig and Dr. Ernest Wilson, III testified Thursday
before the Senate Commerce Committee. The three have been nominated by
President Bush to serve terms on the nine-member Board of Directors for the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The URL below provides links to their
testimony.
[SOURCE: Corporation for Public Broadcasting Press Release]
http://www.cpb.org/programs/pr.php?prn=387
The FCC has granted Californian broadcaster Pappas additional time to
appeal the Commission's decision regarding its "gift" of free time to
legislative candidates in the state. The date for filing an Application For
Review regarding the Bureau's decision has been extended to December 17, 2004
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-04-3619A1.doc
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Thanks for reading. We'll publish Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
Have a great weekend.
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Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments,
policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are
factually accurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the
tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang
(headlines( at )benton.org) -- we welcome your comments.
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