Senate Poised To Tighten Broadcast Ownership Rules - Via American Civil Liberties Union:
Washington, DC – Today, the Senate Commerce Committee is expected to approve a bipartisan resolution, sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), which would restore a media ownership rule recently rescinded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The old rule generally restricted a company from owning both a newspaper and a television station in the same city, unless the FCC granted a waiver.
Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office said, “Senator Dorgan’s resolution aims to protect the airing of a multiplicity of voices, which fuels our democracy. Democracy is not served well by a media oligarchy where five or six corporations decide what Americans see in the news. We urge the Commerce Committee to also take up S. 2332, Senator Dorgan’s bill to reverse the media ownership rules to ensure the FCC does not go down this road again.” read more... »
FCC fines retailers for breaking DTV transition rules | The Industry Standard - Via The Industry Standard :
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has handed out more than US$6.6 million in fines to 11 retailers and television manufacturers, accusing the companies of violating its rules for the U.S. transition to all-digital broadcasts in early 2009.
Among the companies fined Thursday were Fry's Electronics, Best Buy, Circuit City and Target. The biggest fines went to Sears and subsidiary Kmart, nearly $1.1 million; Wal-Mart, $992,000; and TV manufacturer Syntax-Brillian, nearly $1.3 million.
The FCC accused the retailers of failing to place notices near analog-only TV sets warning customers that the sets did not have digital tuners. read more... »
FCC to look into firms' use of customer data - Via Privacy : Tech news from CNET :
Staff at the Federal Communications Commission are expected to recommend that it review rules on how phone and cable companies can use customer information as they try to take business from each other, an FCC official said Friday.
The FCC enforcement bureau will recommend that the commission reject a complaint by cable operators charging that Verizon Communications violated the agency's customer privacy rules by using customer information to prevent them from switching their phone service to cable, an agency official said on condition of anonymity.
Beyond that, the enforcement bureau is expected to recommend that the FCC address more broadly the issue of "customer retention activities" by both phone companies and cable operators to make sure the rules apply equally to both, the official said. read more... »
ACLU Wants Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule Reversed - Via American Civil Liberties Union:
Washington, DC -- In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Vice Chairman Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), the American Civil Liberties Union urged support of a resolution (S. J. Res 28) disapproving of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on broadcast media cross-ownership.
The following can be attributed to ACLU Chief Legislative & Policy Counsel Michael Macleod-Ball: read more... »
FCC Relaxes Digital-TV Transition Order - Via washingtonpost.com - Technology:
The Federal Communications Commission is planning to lay out a new, more flexible set of guidelines for broadcasters, cable companies and television manufacturers as they try to educate consumers about the coming switch from analog to digital programming.
The commission has been under pressure by consumer groups and members of Congress to take stronger steps in raising awareness about the transition. Broadcasters will stop sending analog signals and move to all-digital programming on Feb. 17, 2009. After that, TV watchers who rely on antennas to receive over-the-air broadcasts will need a special converter box. read more... »
ACLU Calls FCC Fine Paternalism at its Worst - Via American Civil Liberties Union: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (202) 675-2312, media@dcaclu.org
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today criticized a Federal Communications Commission proposal of a $1.4 million fine against 52 ABC network affiliates that aired a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue during which a woman’s nude buttocks can be seen. The ACLU responded that the fine represents another egregious example of the government trying to decide what grown adults can and cannot watch. read more... »
FCC to cable: You must support analog TVs until 2012 - Published: September 12, 2007 - 12:39PM CT - Via arstechnica.
Cue the scary music. According to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, "If the cable companies had their way, you, your mother and father, or your next door neighbor could go to sleep one night after watching their favorite channel and wake up the next morning to a dark fuzzy screen."
Martin's talking about the digital TV transition that will happen in February 2009. While the federal government has worked out a plan to help buy digital-to-analog converter boxes for Americans who rely on over-the-air broadcasts and still have analog TV sets, the rules for cable operators were not finalized until yesterday. The FCC voted 5-0 to require that cable operators must continue to make all local broadcasts available to their users, even those with analog televisions. read more... »
The Year in First Amendment Rights: Media Consolidation and Free Speech - Via ACLU Blog - Free Speech:
Direct censorship of broadcast media has been fueled by a more indirect but increasing threat to the marketplace of ideas on the public airwaves: media consolidation.
Currently, a handful of large multinational corporations including Time Warner, Viacom and News Corp control most of the television and radio stations in the United States. In nearly half of the largest radio markets, the three largest corporations control 80 percent of the audience. read more... »
Cable Industry to Standardize Under Tru2Way - Via Slashdot:
smooth wombat writes "In a move to stave off the FCC, cable operators have now agreed upon one standard to allow TVs and other gear that will work regardless of cable provider. This standard should allow the development of new services and features that rely on two-way communication over the cable network. read more... »