Mexico’s Court Limits Reach of Big Media

MEXICO'S COURT LIMITS REACH OF BIG MEDIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elisabeth Malkin]
The Mexican Supreme Court overwhelmingly voted Thursday to declare parts of a new media law unconstitutional, a blow to the country’s two main broadcasters who had hoped to extend their dominance in television to the Internet and telephone service. The decision confirmed several preliminary votes by the court’s members in the last two weeks as they went through the disputed parts of the law. In an unprecedented move, the hearings were televised and the court members heard experts speak for and against the law. Now it goes back to Congress to be rewritten. Although legislators agreed that the existing 47-year-old television law needs to be changed, no one has stepped forward with a proposal. That may force President Felipe Calderón to come up with his own legislation and send it to Congress, which is out of session until September. The law was passed in the heat of an election campaign last year, and critics said that it gave new power to the nation’s broadcasting duopoly, Televisa and TV Azteca, which control about 90 percent of the industry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/business/worldbusiness/08mextv.html
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* Ruling hits 2 media giants
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-mextv8jun08,1,5217996...