An Open Letter to the FCC's New Chairman: Save Broadcast TV Before it is Too Late

[Commentary] Jessell writes Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski saying that the television station business is the victim of economic troubles, cutbacks in advertising and relentless and increasing competition for audience from cable and now the Internet. If nothing is done, he warns, broadcasting service will inevitably degrade and trigger a downward ratings spiral from which stations may not be able to recover. To insure that doesn't happen, FCC needs to immediately address the troubles of TV broadcasting and take steps to bolster the financial health of the industry. What's to be done?

1) Place a moratorium on the adoption of rules and regulations that would impose additional burdens on broadcasters.

2) Relax the local ownership rules.

3) Eliminate the newspaper-broadcast crossownership ban in all markets.

4) Eliminate the FCC policy prohibiting a security interest in FCC licenses.

5) Signal a willingness to grant waivers of the 25 percent limit on alien ownership of holding companies with stations.

6) Expand the must-carry obligations so that cable systems have to carry all a TV station's digital channels offered free to the public.

7) Recommend to Congress that it pass no law weakening the ability of TV stations to negotiate freely for retransmission consent fees.

8) Recommend to Congress that it amend the All-Channel Receiver Act to require that all cell phones sold in the US be equipped with a mobile DTV tuner.

9) Recommend to Congress that it amend the compulsory copyright license so that Web sites can stream local TV signals in their entirety on the condition that the signals cannot be received outside their local markets.

10) Reverse and clarify FCC indecency rules to relieve broadcasters of liability for so-called "fleeting expletives" and other incidental use of "indecent" language.

11) Open a notice of inquiry to examine whether TV stations operating in the VHF band will have sufficient power to provide effective mobile DTV service.

12) Announce promptly the FCC's interest to at least consider some or all of the above recommendation to reassure bankers and investors that the industry may soon get some regulatory relief.