Google’s and YouTube’s success underscores the need for media deregulation, broadcasters told the FCC. Unprecedented competition from video and news online gives consumers a staggering array of programming choices, they said. Commenting on the Commission’s ownership rulemaking, over- the-air networks and TV station owners said there’s little reason to keep limits preventing a company from owning more than one TV station in most markets. Commenters said cross- ownership rules barring a broadcaster from owning a newspaper in the same town are outdated because websites and cable offer consumers choices and are snaring a growing chunk of local ads. The comment deadline was late Mon. (CD Oct 24 p8).
EchoStar probably will try -- and fail -- to overturn an injunction to stop importing distant signals unless joined by broadcast affiliates, said 2 attorneys in the case. The order nullifies an agreement Echostar reached with affiliates of 4 broadcast networks to keep carrying their signals (CD Aug 29 p1). The company must stop delivering the signals Dec. 1, U.S. Dist. Judge William Dimitrouleas, Ft. Lauderdale, said in a permanent injunction Fri. in CBS et al. v. EchoStar. Fox sought the nationwide injunction after EchoStar and ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliate groups agreed to a $100 million settlement. The lawsuit was filed in 1998.
Nashville is the likely site of the FCC’s 2nd media ownership field hearing, said lobbyists involved in the issue. A mid-Nov. date is likely, but logistical and scheduling details don’t appear to be finalized, we're told. Locating the meeting in Nashville would continue the trend set by Chmn. Martin’s office of holding the gatherings in towns of interest to other commissioners. The Oct. 3 hearing was in L.A. and nearby El Segundo, where Comr. McDowell’s brother, Mayor Kelly McDowell, welcomed the FCC to town; Comr. Tate lives in the Nashville area. FCC officials wouldn’t comment. Petitioners began filing comments in the Commission’s media ownership rulemaking ahead of a Mon. deadline. The FCC should allow further industry consolidation, said the Media Institute. It proposed increasing the number of TV stations that can be owned by one firm in markets with at least 60 such properties to 10, from 8 now. In the 7 U.S. markets with 75 or more TV stations, broadcasters should be able to own 12. Consumer groups opposing deregulation released a report that said diversity of opinions in 12 states would suffer if ownership limits were increased. “More media mergers in our already highly consolidated media markets will reduce already insufficient local news coverage,” said the Media & Democracy Coalition. Combining L.A.’s largest 2 newspapers with large TV stations under cross ownership, sought by industry groups including the Media Institute, would increase concentration beyond DoJ guidelines, said the consumer coalition.
Govt. regulation isn’t the answer to public concern about indecent programs, said Sumner Redstone, CBS and Viacom chmn. People who think a show is too explicit will watch something else, and cable viewers can block objectionable content, he told a Media Institute dinner Mon. Time Warner Cable Pres. Glenn Britt used the event to tout parental TV controls. Calling cable, broadcasting and telephone “heavily regulated” industries, he said: “The cable industry has consistently advocated deregulation of all of these industries whenever competition is available as an alternative to regulation.” Redstone said FCC indecency regulations have executives and artists “living with a great deal of fear… A couple thousand form complaints [to the FCC] from people condemning TV shows that they have never watched can result in an indecency fine 10 times higher than it was a year ago.” Such complaints can prompt “regulators to dictate business models that ultimately will do more harm,” Redstone added. FCC indecency fines of more than $3 million in March prompted some stations to pixelate scenes with partial nudity, use tape delays for sporting events and move programming that broadcasters fear could be found indecent to later times, said an attorney involved in indecency litigation. Fox is among the broadcast networks that pixelates the images of speakers’ mouths when they curse, in addition to bleeping the audio, a spokesman said: “That’s a step that we took some time ago.”
Time Warner Cable won’t pay cash for local TV signals, said a spokeswoman. She was reacting to broadcast executive comments that the industry wants compensation for HDTV and multicast channels (CD Oct 12 p5). CBS expects to get paid for its content, a spokeswoman said; Most other broadcasters wouldn’t go public on their compensation goals. Other cable operators were similarly mum on carriage payment policies.
The FCC is poised to eye telco TV products and a la carte in a pay-TV competition report reflecting Chmn. Martin’s and colleagues’ concerns about cable rate increases. As expected, a notice of inquiry (NOI) approved at a Thurs. FCC meeting will study how newer services, including IPTV, affect the video market(CD Oct 11 p7). The NOI seeks data on “newer distribution methods,” including IPTV, online video streaming and distribution of programming over wireless devices, Media Bureau attorney Marcia Glauberman said.
LOS ANGELES - The FCC should make broadcast networks air more independently-made TV shows, union officials representing artists and producers told an FCC media ownership hearing here late Tues. The FCC should mandate at least 25% of primetime programs be by firms not owned by networks or Hollywood studios, said Screen Actors Guild’s Anne-Marie Johnson and Taylor Hackford, vp-Directors Guild of America.
LOS ANGELES -- Broadcast-newspaper cross-ownership drew criticism here Tues. at the start of the first FCC field hearing on that and other hot-button media consolidation issues. Rep. Watson (D-Cal.) said the FCC shouldn’t grant a Tribune request to extend its cross-ownership waiver involving the L.A. Times and KTLA, vowing to solicit opposition. Tribune declined to comment. KTLA, whose license comes up for renewal in 2007, isn’t operating under a waiver, a broadcast official said.
Rep. Watson (D-Cal.) will be among the first speakers at an FCC media ownership hearing Tues. in L.A., said her office. Watson joined advocacy groups ranging from Free Press to an actors union trying to boost attendance, her spokesman told us: “The Congresswoman is very hopeful that the community turns out for the FCC hearing.” Rep. Waters (D-Cal.) also plans to attend. The 2 members of Congress had pushed the FCC to relocate the meeting to accommodate more people (CD Sept 26 p2). The American Federation of TV & Radio Artists asked L.A.-area members to testify.
CBS got more time to file documents in its appeal of a $550,000 FCC fine for Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl breast- flashing. Third U.S. Appeals Court Judge Michael Chagares, Philadelphia, extended the briefing schedule to coincide with another indecency case in 2nd U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y. (CD Sept 8 p2). All documents must be filed in the Philadelphia case, CBS vs. FCC, by Dec. 11, within the timeframe set in an order by Chagares. The extension is a slight positive for CBS, said a lawyer involved in other indecency litigation.