COMRS. DOUBT FCC CAN REGULATE CONTENT DEEMED INDECENT BY SOME

Event, which drew 150 people, was held to inform commissioners’ opinions as they reviewed 6 broadcast ownership rules, including ban on newspaper/broadcast cross- ownership, local radio ownership, national TV ownership, TV duopoly rule, radio/TV cross-ownership restriction, dual TV network ban. Chmn. Powell has said Commission intends to issue new rules governing broadcast ownership by late spring.

Hearing was set up with 3 expert panels focusing on diversity, competition, localism. Most of panelists were from Washington and members of public had little chance -- less than 1- hours -- to speak during hearing. Although this was only hearing thus far officially held by FCC, Powell told audience that agency was having many hearings around country. However, those were being put on by various universities and not all commissioners were attending them. Media Access Project Pres. Andrew Schwartzman said in his comments that he already knew all other people on panel because he and they were from Washington. “We didn’t need to brave a snowstorm to present viewpoints that are available to you back home,” Schwartzman told commissioners, to applause. He called for more hearings “under different conditions” to elicit comments from public. Several members of public called for hearings at night and on weekends so more people could have their voices heard.

Saying that FCC had received more than 18,000 comments, most of them from individual citizens, Powell called record already “staggering.” He said proceeding must be driven by evidence, “not personal preference” and Commission had attempted to defend its rules 5 times before courts in recent years and each time “got hammered for it.” But Comr. Adelstein said in his opening remarks that FCC would have to make some predictive judgments: “Let’s not pretend this is science. The questions before us don’t lend themselves to mathematical formulas. We have to use our judgment.” Abernathy said FCC’s record before courts had been “rather pathetic.” Saying she believed it was imperative for free over-the-air broadcasting to remain viable, she said this proceeding had prompted the most “detailed evidentiary record that I've seen in my 20 years practicing communications law.” Comr. Copps said Commission needed more hearings and evidence before it could make informed decision: “Not only don’t we know all the answers, we haven’t teed up all the questions.”

What prompted initial exchange over indecency was Bozell’s statement that average parents were “disgusted, revolted and fed up with the raw sewage, the ultra-violence, the rabid sex, the raunchy language that is flooding into their living rooms day and night through their TV screens and poisoning an entire generation of youngsters.” Powell said Bozell and his supporters needed to better distinguish between media dominance and popularity. “Half the time what we're railing against is what consumers chose… There is an element of public interest that is what interests the public,” said Powell, adding: “It may not be what I would choose. We can call it sludge, but it’s the sludge that people are watching.” Abernathy questioned whether people were having bad content thrust upon them when there were so many channels to choose from, including History Channel, Discovery or PBS. “Should I force them to watch it?” she asked. “They can turn the channel.”

But Bozell and Schwartzman said 5-6 media conglomerates dominated most content people watched. What’s more, Schwartzman said, incumbents leveraged their power to drive people to other content also owned by those companies. Attorney Robert Corn-Revere of Hogan & Hartson, who was on staff of former FCC Comr. James Quello, cautioned commissioners not to “use regulatory controls for social engineering.”

Copps, who has long linked media concentration with “a race to the bottom,” asked Bozell whether he thought FCC was taking indecency issue seriously. “I do not,” responded Bozell, saying that PTC research showed that FCC hadn’t fined single TV broadcaster for indecency, although it was against law. “It is getting worse and worse and worse,” Bozell said. “And we're seeing more and more consolidation.”

In his opening remarks, Comr. Martin said Internet now represented significant outlet for news and information -- market reality commissioners must take into account -- and he questioned wisdom of newspaper-broadcast ownership ban. Jay Ireland, pres.-NBC TV stations, said consumers had more choices than ever, with average viewer receiving 89 channels, 14 of them over-the air, and perhaps “most importantly the Internet, which empowers every user to be his or her own programmer, editor or content creator.” He questioned why companies were limited to 2 TV stations in small market and in large market, even though there were more voices in more populated areas. Such rule “defies logic,” he said.

Alfred Liggins, CEO of Radio One, largest African- American-controlled radio company in U.S., said there had been decline in minority owned radio stations in Richmond, but he believed that in some instances deregulation had provided more opportunities for minorities. He said there were economies of scale to be gained through consolidation. Radio One recently launched partnership with Comcast to start new black-focused cable channel to compete with BET.

Both Victoria Riskin of Writers Guild of America-West and Jonathan Rintels of Center for Creative Community called on FCC to limit how much programming networks could own, saying networks were prevailing upon independent writers and producers to cede control of their works. Rintels also questioned Ireland’s contention that Internet was alternative, saying he had never heard of American families’ “gathering around the computer to watch Internet.”

Members of public who spoke were, for most part, highly critical of Commission. One local broadcaster said FCC wasn’t “following the money” to determine whether consolidation was producing benefits or harms. “I'm going to buy everything and then minimize my outlet of cash. I'm going to put a little sawdust in the hamburgers. People are putting out junk because they have too much opportunity to own too much. These licenses are the property of the public and the Commission has seemed to lose sight of that,” he said. Another, member of antiwar group, recounted how Comcast had pulled her organization’s ad from its Washington system in what she called bid at censorship. Comcast has said ad included unsubstantiated claims. “Centralized control of the media is un-American,” she said. “When this happened, I felt like I was in Iraq.”

Panelist David Croteau, prof. in dept. of sociology and anthropology at Va. Commonwealth U., told Commission that deregulation of radio had been “a disaster for Richmond” and that number of radio station owners had declined precipitously with entrance of Clear Channel. Adelstein, in his opening remarks, said, “I know a lot of people are unhappy about what they hear on the radio.” But Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays said competition was “more robust than ever before” and radio was “experiencing a new vitality.” Ten years ago, more than half of stations were operating in red and cutting local news. By creating economies of scale, Clear Channel is investing in local news and programming, Mays said. While Clear Channel owns 1,200 stations, they represent just 9% of radio stations in U.S. Mays said there were more formats and greater variety of music being played on radio stations than ever before. However, Jenny Toomey of Future of Music Coalition said that since 1996 deregulation of radio there were 1/3 fewer radio station owners.

Panelist Victor Miller of Bear, Stearns made economic argument in favor of lifting restrictions, saying he didn’t think there would be “a mad rush” to consolidate if FCC lifted duopoly and national ownership rules. He said there were many pressures on traditional broadcasting, including advent of personal video recorders that allowed viewers to skip commercials. Loss of advertising would force broadcasting to embrace subscription model that probably would raise monthly rates for consumers $30 per month to make up for loss, he said. But Deborah McDermott of Young Bcstg. said networks were making “old and tired argument” that they needed more consolidation in order to survive. She argued that independently owned stations must survive in order to best serve their communities. She gave example of “Temptation Island,” which one TV station rejected because it felt its community wouldn’t want to see show that embraced possible break-up of child’s parents. No owned and operated (O&O) stations rejected that program, she said.

Hearing wasn’t without lighter moments. After Mays had remarked in last panel that “canary in the coal mine” was doing fine after consolidation, Copps quipped that yes, indeed, he was fine and “operating 12 radio stations from inside the coal mine.”