[opendtv] Minority and rural groups oppose FCC's plan to change cable TV rules
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:58:00 -0500
Wow. I hadn't thought of the FCC effort to reduce the cable monopoly as being
"anti-diversity." I suppose such a label could generate whole new categories of
objectors. I don't follow that logic, though, even after reading the article.
How can more competitoion among umbillical service providers, e.g. in apartment
buildings, cause the price to go up? If anything caused the price to go up, it
was when the central antenna systems were usurped by the cable company.
Certainly, "a la carte" cable would very likely eliminate many of the niche
channels, which I suppose would include the "minority" channels. Which is why I
always wondered why Craig keeps asking for a la carte choice, and then
complains about how hard it is for small producers to get their stuff out on TV
systems.
Bert
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http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=10HR2Z40IQ3R0QSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=204200318
November 19, 2007
Minority and rural groups oppose FCC's plan to change cable TV rules
By K.C. Jones
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. and the Rainbow/Push Coalition have joined with the
League of Rural Voters and the Hispanic Federation in opposition of the Federal
Communications Commission's plans to overhaul cable TV regulations.
The FCC is considering revising its cable TV regulations, using the so-called
70/70 rule as justification. The 70/70 rule states that when 70% of American
homes can access cable and 70% of those with access subscribe, the FCC can
impose new regulations to ensure competition. Many groups, including cable and
telecommunications companies, dispute whether the threshold has been met.
While the disputed rule was adopted to ensure competition, several groups are
saying the plan would hurt minorities, rural voters, and consumers. FCC
Chairman Kevin Martin reportedly wants cable providers to allow à la carte
service, so consumers can select individual channels rather than packages.
Minority groups say that à la carte service would ruin the business model that
supports minority-owned channels.
"It is deeply disturbing to learn from the news media that the FCC is
considering using an antiquated legal rule to advance what is widely seen by
civil rights leaders as an anti-diversity agenda," Jackson said in a statement
released Monday. "There is virtually no political support from either
progressives or conservatives for such pet policies as à la carte pricing,
which would raise prices for consumers and hurt most programmers, or for the
various 'leased access' programs that will squeeze out channel space for
minority-owned programmers."
Jackson criticized the FCC for circumventing the legislative process to change
policy by invoking the 70/70 rule in the 1984 Cable Act.
Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, president of the Hispanic Federation, said the move
was a way to promote an "anti-diversity agenda" after failing to gain
legislative support. She said Martin wants to use the rule as a loophole for
new regulations that would allow "à la carte pricing," leased access, and
multicast, must-carry rules.
"If implemented, these policies could undermine Hispanic-owned networks on
cable by depriving them of the economic model that supports them as well as
drying up limited channel space by instead handing it to throw-away channels
like home shopping networks and 24-hour weather monitoring," she said. "These
are bad ideas that will have devastating effects on Hispanic ownership and
representation in the media. It seems that Chairman Martin has recognized that
the only way to push through these unpopular policies is by taking advantage of
regulatory loopholes and annexing authority that belongs to the legislatures."
League of Rural Voters executive director Niel Ritchie said that if the FCC
invokes the rule, low- and middle-income rural subscribers will pay more for
cable and have less program choice.
"The FCC's continuing effort to stiff-arm rural viewers has hit a new low,"
Ritchie said in a statement.
Ritchie said Martin is "kowtowing to consumer electronics companies" and has
allowed an effective $600 million tax on set-top boxes that costs consumers
while endangering the transition to digital broadcast television in rural
America.
"Now, by threatening to invoke the FCC's outdated 70/70 authority, which
contemplates an uncompetitive marketplace entirely different than the one
American consumers have come to know, the Chairman is committing a completely
unreasonable legal overreach, twisting both fact and Congressional intent to
enact the very same rules -- multicast must carry, a more expansive leased
access regime, and even à la carte cable rules -- that Congress would not,"
Ritchie said. "The League of Rural Voters hopes that the Commission will air on
the side of helping the American heartland move further into the Digital Age
without being saddled with unwarranted economic burden."
This story was modified to correct FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's name.
All material on this site Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC. All rights reserved
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