With TV stations expected to bring in record political ad revenue this year, broadcasters’ windfall could limit participation in the upcoming incentive auction of broadcast licenses, industry and government sources warn. The political ad windfall could be nearly $3 billion, with both presidential campaigns eschewing spending limits and in the aftermath of a 2010 decision by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC, in which the court said the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions. But several broadcast industry experts said these fears may not come to pass.
In a proposal that is raising some concerns internally at the FCC, a notice of proposed rulemaking on rules for an incentive auction of broadcast spectrum proposes that a reverse auction, where broadcasters will propose to sell their spectrum or opt to share spectrum, and a forward auction, where the agency will offer the licenses for 4G and LTE, take place concurrently, officials said. The NPRM was circulated by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Sept. 7 (CD Sept 10 p1) and it was being reviewed by the various commissioner offices last week. The NPRM is slated to get a vote at the FCC’s Sept. 28 meeting.
Democrats on Tuesday touted their work to modernize, expand and secure the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure in the party’s 2012 national platform. Their plan offered sharp contrasts to the GOP’s platform positions on political advertising, cybersecurity and online privacy, while presenting similar commitments to protect Internet freedom and U.S. intellectual property (CD Aug 30 p1). Democrats did not offer any positions on Internet gambling, online pornography, cellphone tracking or online sales taxes. A copy of the 40 page platform circulated on Monday evening but was not ratified until after our Tuesday deadline.
Democrats on Tuesday touted their work to modernize, expand and secure the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure in the party’s 2012 national platform. Their plan offered sharp contrasts to the GOP’s platform positions on political advertising, cybersecurity and online privacy, while presenting similar commitments to protect Internet freedom and U.S. intellectual property (WID Aug 30 p1). Democrats did not offer any positions on Internet gambling, online pornography, cellphone tracking or online sales taxes. A copy of the 40-page platform circulated on Monday evening but was not to be ratified until after our Tuesday deadline.
A case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit could have major implications for the FCC’s authority over the cable industry, cable attorneys said. They said the court’s recent stay of an FCC order that Comcast carry the Tennis Channel more broadly than it already does (CD Aug 27 p10) has sparked some optimism among cable lawyers that the industry’s constitutional arguments against FCC regulation may be gaining some ground at the court. Whichever way the court rules, it will have big implications for the FCC’s ability to regulate cable, these lawyers said. A public interest attorney disagreed with those assessments. The FCC, Comcast and Tennis Channel didn’t immediately respond to our queries.
The FCC should afford broadcasters more latitude when it comes to indecency enforcement, and focus on holding networks accountable for programming they supply to affiliates and on setting clearer guidelines for broadcasters to follow, TV station general managers and others said. With the Supreme Court’s rejection last month of indecency censures against Disney’s ABC and News Corp.’s Fox (CD June 22 p1), the onus returns to the agency to articulate what is actionably indecent. While much of the debate has focused on content, the question of how much responsibility should be borne by the affiliates should also be considered, said Bill Lamb, president of Block Communications’ WDRB-TV and WMYO-TV in Louisville, Ky.
A year after former FCC Managing Director Steve VanRoekel left the agency to become federal chief information officer, questions remain about the FCC’s revised website. Frequent users of the site say they continue to rely on the old version, the old blue and gold site, still available as the transition website. Meanwhile, the FCC has markedly decreased the number of blog entries it posts each month. The blog averaged 25 posts per month in 2010, but only about a fifth as many per month so far this year.
A year after former FCC Managing Director Steve VanRoekel left the agency to become federal chief information officer, questions remain about the FCC’s revised website. Frequent users of the site say they continue to rely on the old version, the old blue and gold site, still available as the transition website. Meanwhile, the FCC has markedly decreased the number of blog entries it posts each month. The blog averaged 25 posts per month in 2010, but only about a fifth as many per month so far this year.
The onus returns to the FCC to decide how to deal with brief instances of nudity or unscripted cursing broadcast on TV. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled as some expected (CD Jan 11 p1) that the commission violated the due process rights of Disney’s ABC network and some affiliates and News Corp.’s Fox by not giving them notice that fleeting indecency could be censured or result in fines.
The Supreme Court likely will hold off deciding whether to take up FCC v. CBS until ruling this term on the agency’s indecency case against Disney’s ABC and News Corp.’s Fox broadcast-TV networks, a lawyer who’s sided with broadcasters on the issue predicted. The high court didn’t act Monday on whether to grant writ of certiorari on the commission’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling throwing out a $550,000 fine against CBS over Janet Jackson’s split-second 2004 Super Bowl halftime breast-barring incident (CD April 19 p20). “Presumably, they'll hold it until the Fox case is decided,” said communications lawyer Andrew Schwartzman. “The cert petition was on the calendar."