Broadcasters and cable operators again disputed whether home-shopping channels deserve carriage on cable systems. Filing on either side of the issue, the companies were responding to an FCC request for comments. Both sides used the Constitution to frame arguments over a business with more than $7 billion in 2005 revenue. Contending that the 1993 must-carry rules are outdated, cable operators said they violate the First Amendment, requiring the FCC to drop them, because cable has better uses for bandwidth from new services. Broadcasters and channels said 14 years of Supreme Court rulings have reinforced the reasons networks got must- carry protection in the first place.
Advocacy and public interest groups are looking for ways to stymie a possible takeover of Dow Jones by News Corp., even though the transaction presents no obvious avenues, source said. “We've been asked by lots of people to look into it and we think there may be some issues to raise at the commission,” said Media Access Project (MAP) President Andrew Schwartzman. “We're confident there is a basis to pursue things at the FCC. We're being asked to do it and we're giving due consideration to it.” It is unclear if the FCC has jurisdiction, since the deal would not require transfer of broadcast licenses (CD May 3 p5).
EchoStar deems FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s open access proposal “a step in the right direction” for the coming 700 MHz auction, David Goodfriend, vice president of law and public policy, told a Minority Media & Telecommunications Council (MMTC) conference Tuesday. He said the satellite provider has no position on open access but hopes any such rules will make it easier for a company other than a cable operator or Bell to bid in the auction. Goodfriend said he reads Martin’s proposal to mean it would prevent “blocking” and “locking” of cell phones, resembling FCC program access rules that EchoStar backs. “The fundamental question is whether or not this regulatory construct will become so burdensome as to scare away investors altogether,” he said.
The FCC should tread carefully in letting unlicensed devices operate near TV spectrum after broadcasters vacate 700 MHz frequencies in February 2009, National Association of Broadcasters President David Rehr told a Minority Media & Telecommunications Council conference Tuesday in Washington. Technology companies seeking to use unlicensed devices in so- called white spaces can use “fixed” devices for broadband in rural areas, Rehr said, adding that letting companies use white spaces during the digital TV transition would be a mistake. “It would increase the level of complexity, misunderstanding, confusion,” he said. “I just think it would make everything a lot worse.” Unlicensed white space devices is “really about selling a lot of toys in big cities,” not broadband deployment, he added. Andrew Schwartzman, Media Access Project president, predicted a problem-plagued DTV transition because Congress did not allot enough money for consumer education. “It is simply not realistic to expect the private sector to do what is needed,” Schwartzman said. “It’s not going to work very well, and when we come to 2009 and the transition actually takes place you are going to have a significant gap, I fear.” NTIA, CEA and NCTA officials disagreed, saying industry efforts will suffice. NTIA Administrator John Kneuer said Congress intended that “the lion’s share of the consumer education was going to be performed by the people at this table and in the room.” - JM
The FCC rejected a Nov. 2005 plea to block license renewals of 20 TV stations in and around Chicago and Milwaukee attacked by local media advocacy groups for inadequately covering political news in those cities. The petitions to deny renewals gave no evidence the broadcasters “exercised their editorial discretion in bad faith” by devoting less than 1% of news to local political issues in the runup to the 2004 elections, said the Media Bureau: “Quantity is not necessarily an accurate measure of the overall responsiveness of a licensee’s programming” to the community. The FCC is limited in its ability to second-guess broadcast news content under the First Amendment, said the Bureau. The FCC was expected to deny the bid to block the renewals on constitutional grounds (CD Dec 28 p5). The groups whose petitions were denied may ask the full Commission to review their cases, said Media Access Project Pres. Andrew Schwartzman, who represents them.
An appeals court said the FCC can’t find broadcasts indecent if they include a single curse because in 2004 the agency changed enforcement policy without giving sufficient reason for doing so or analyzing the change. U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y., remanded the whole “fleeting expletive” policy to the FCC, vacating 2 orders finding Fox’s Billboard 2002 and 2003 shows indecent. In a ruling written by Judge Rosemary Pooler, she and Peter Hall said the FCC violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in finding U-2 singer Bono’s utterance of “fucking” in 2003 on NBC’s Golden Globe Awards show indecent. Judge Pierre Leval dissented, saying the Commission gave the industry plenty of notice it was changing enforcement and didn’t violate administrative procedure.
News Corp. is unlikely to face significant regulatory hurdles if it gets an agreement to buy Dow Jones (CD May 2 p12), broadcast lawyers and a media activist agreed. At first glance, the FCC seems to have little ground to block such a deal, since broadcast/newspaper cross-ownership rules wouldn’t be triggered, said the attorneys and Media Access Project Pres. Andrew Schwartzman. Analysts cheered the bid, saying News Corp.’s cable and broadcast properties would benefit from joining with Dow’s extensive online operations. A deal is anything but certain, however, as Dow Jones’ controlling Bancroft family rejected the $5 billion effort late Tues.
Completion of some FCC media ownership studies has been delayed because authors were waiting for data and contracts from the agency, said some of the researchers. Publication of the full batch of 10 economic studies has been delayed, said FCC and industry officials, and the slowdown is a reason the Commission’s media ownership review may take more time than expected at first. Another reason is the need to complete a series of 6 ownership hearings and several localism meetings. The 4th ownership hearing is scheduled for today (Mon.) in Tampa.
Taking Tribune’s broadcast assets private in a leveraged buyout valued at about $8.2 billion would require a series of FCC waivers, broadcast officials said. Tribune accepted investor Sam Zell’s offer to take the company private over a similar competing bid by Eli Broad and Ron Burkle. Tribune will take on $7 billion in new debt to complete the deal, some to be paid down by selling the Chicago Cubs and the company stake in the Comcast Sports Net Chicago network. Publicly traded Tribune bonds aren’t involved in the deal. Tribune began considering a sale last year after a large shareholder pushed it to spin off the broadcast group (CD June 15 p18).
Campaigning to mobilize musicians for net neutrality, the Future of Music Coalition (FMC) Tues. announced a Rock The Net campaign and website, FutureOfMusic.org/RockTheNet. Rock The Net -- endorsed by House Telecom & Internet Subcommittee Chmn. Markey (D-Mass.), 26 bands and others -- maintains that indie musicians will suffer unless Congress stops AT&T, Verizon and other ISPs from charging websites for extra bandwidth. The campaign is “big, powerful and going to rock,” Markey said.