PBS said it’s easing its editing requirements for producers after reviewing its indecency guidelines with stations managers, producers and regulators. The decision isn’t “directly” related to Pres. Paula Kerger’s recent meetings with FCC commissioners, Vp Lea Sloan told us. The network also filed as an amicus curiae seeking review of the FCC’s proposed a $15,000 fine against KCSM-TV San Mateo for carrying the PBS documentary The Blues: Godfathers and Sons, whose audio track includes “fuck” and “shit.”
The Senate shut down for Aug. recess early Fri. without passing the telecom bill (HR-5252), despite Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) week-long drive to round up the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. On Tues. Steven was somewhat optimistic, he told reporters after the Republican policy lunch. “I think I've got them, but I'm not sure yet.”
David Dorman, ex-AT&T, joins Motorola board… Deborah Fine, ex-Avon Future, becomes pres.-NBC Universal’s iVillage properties… Bluesocket names Ann Doyle, ex-Citel Technologies, vp-sales… Scott Bain, ex-Wiley Rein & Fielding, moves to RIAA as vp-legal affairs… RCN Corp. said positions of CTO Timothy Dunne and Senior Vp-Operations Joseph Sorresso were eliminated, effective July 7… MusicNet names Ted Casey, ex-Verizon Wireless, senior vp- business development & partner relations… Rainbow Ad Sales promotes Steve Luttinger to senior vp-ad sales, AMC and WE TV, and Tom Etheridge to dir.-pricing & reporting… PBS promotes Mary Kadera to vp-education… Lifetime Networks names Karen Cartales, ex-CSTV, to new position of senior vp- mktg… Starz Entertainment promotes Clif Watkins to exec. dir-channel management… Ted Casey, ex-Verizon Wireless, joins MusicNet as senior vp-business development & partner relations.
President Bush names Helgi Walker, Wiley Rein & Fielding and ex-FCC, to D.C. Judicial Nomination Commission… Nexstar Bcstg. adds Lisbeth McNabb, Match.com, to board… Serge Fortin, ex-FLAG Telecom, becomes SR Telecom pres.-CEO, effective July 10… David Sharbutt, ex-Alamosa Holdings, joins American Tower Corp. board… ABC promotes Heather Rim to vp-communications, human resources… Alcatel names Laurent Collet-Billon, ex-French Defense Ministry, adviser to CEO for defense & security.
If the FCC approves the Adelphia transaction involving Comcast and Time Warner Cable, those firms both should come under the same strict conditions the agency put on News Corp. and Hughes, DirecTV said in an ex parte filing Fri. An order on the $17 billion deal began circulating last week (CD June 26 p1). DirecTV wants the Commission to bar Comcast and Time Warner from having an exclusive carriage agreement with any regional sports network (RSN), it said. The Commission is expected to conclude the matter mid-July (CD June 22 p12).
Responding to FCC rulings and $325,000 fines authorized by Congress, PBS issued indecency guidelines for its producers. Producers have been told to fully bleep offending words and black out lips shown uttering them, said Louis Wiley, exec. editor of Frontline, produced by WGBH Boston. Frontline adopted the new guidelines Tues. “I consider this a very sad moment for the First Amendment and I do think this is censorship by indirection,” Wiley told us. WGBH, WNET N.Y., and WETA Washington, D.C. are the major PBS producing stations.
A 5% tax on telecom provider gross revenue isn’t “reasonable compensation” for using municipal rights of way, a federal appeals court ruled last week. Upholding a lower court ruling, the First U.S. Appeals Court, Boston, said the tax imposed on Puerto Rico Telephone Co. (PRTC) by the municipality of Guayanilla could be prohibitive, especially if other municipalities levy similar amounts. “We agree with PRTC that [the ordinance] will negatively affect PRTC’s profitability,” the court wrote in a June 7 ruling. “While we recognize the difficult task that municipalities face when enacting ordinances that regulate public rights of way, we conclude that the ordinance in this case is preempted” by Sec. 253(a) of the Telecom Act, which bars state or local statutes prohibiting entry by telecom companies. Wiley, Rein & Fielding, which represented PRTC, said the case marks “the first Circuit-level precedent defining the limits on municipal authority to condition access to public rights-of- way on the payment of gross revenue fees. The opinion “contains a strong endorsement of the principle that any rights-of-way fees imposed by a municipality must bear a direct relationship to a telecommunications carrier’s use of those rights-of-way and that a municipality’s costs of maintaining the rights-of-way are ‘an essential part of the equation,'” the law firm said. The decision also embraced “the important principle that once a municipal fee is shown to be a potential barrier to providing service under Section 253(a), the burden of proof shifts to the municipality to show that the fee meets the definition of ‘fair and reasonable compensation'” -- Puerto Rico Telephone Company v Municipality of Guayanilla (05-1400), it said.
Prospects are good for passage of a telecom bill the President can sign this Congress, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) told a Tues. National Journal breakfast. “Their bill is not all that far away from ours,” Upton said, referring to a Senate telecom bill introduced Mon. (CD May 2 p1). That bill, especially its franchise provision, offers a “hook” to get something into conference where the 2 can be reconciled, Upton said.
LAS VEGAS -- “Local, local, local” programming and public service is the best way for a licensee to “retain your station’s value, John Gage of Sun Microsystems said on one of 6 panels of lawyers and other experts here Sun. at a pre-NAB legal forum to advise attorneys on “representing your local broadcaster.” But, he said broadcasters in attendance “are in a way 5 or 10 years behind what’s going on in other countries.” Ex-FCC Chairman Richard Wiley also stressed the importance of localism. He said there’s a lot more lobbying of FCC commissioners and staffers than there used to be. He called broadcasting the most regulated U.S. industry and said it “always will be.”
Douglas Wiley starts May 14 as NAB exec. vp-govt. relations. Wiley, who’s the oldest son of prominent communications attorney and former FCC Chmn. Richard Wiley, said he expects his mass media and telecom experience to help the group. Wiley will work as senior vp of the Electronic Industries Alliance until he starts the new position, he said. Among his first jobs was at WMAL(AM) D.C.; he also got media experience as an aide to former Rep. Bliley (R-Va.), he said: “On Capitol Hill, I handled mass media issues, in addition to common carrier… Now the pendulum is swinging back, I'm coming back to my roots a little bit.” Wiley wouldn’t comment on his plans at NAB, and said it was too early to talk about hiring decisions. Wiley also worked for CompTel, NTIA and TIA. - JM