Sleepycatz

Freekin FCC

This week presented a great deal of news about our friends at the FCC. Fresh from their imbroglio surrounding a surpressed report showing that media consolidation adversely effected local news coverage, the FCC board, tenacious as ever, has issued an updated agenda for its meeting on October 12th; an agenda which is forecasting more bad news for consumers.But first, a study by Ars Technica has concluded what most of us has suspected: that any large number of indecency complaints to the FCC are generally the product of a special interest groups, and not that of a greatly offended viewing public. The following graph illustrates the overall trend, by comparing the same quarter across a four year period:

In April, May, and June of 2002, for instance, only 141 people in the entire country filed an FCC complaint. In the same three months of 2003, 351 people objected. Then, in 2004, something remarkable happened: 272,818 people filed complaints in a single quarter. Had television suddenly started peddling prime-time pornography? Of course not. What had happened was a certain “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl. The brief flash of Janet Jackson’s pasty-covered breast outraged conservatives across the country. More importantly, it outraged the Parents Television Council (whose children, remember, are watching), which mounted one of its many campaigns to flood the FCC with complaints. By all accounts, it was successful; an FCC estimate concluded that more than 99 percent of the complaints received came from the PTC.

What, exactly, the PTC believes is ‘decent’ television seems illusive, but their viewer guide offers some insight into what they believe television content should be comprised of:

PTC Picks of the Week
Friday, October 6, 2006

Wheel of Fortune, 7:00 p.m. (Eastern) ABC Contestants compete for prizes.

Scooby Do! Pirates Ahoy!, 7:00 p.m. (Eastern) Cartoon Network Scooby-Doo and the gang have a scary adventure while taking a creepy voyage in the Bermuda Triangle. Animated.

Jeopardy!, 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) ABC Contestants supply questions for answers.

Everybody Loves Raymond, 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) TBS Ray vows to win the grand prize of the Frontier Girls cookie drive when Ally’s troop leader targets his parents’ house.

Deal or No Deal, 8:00 p.m. (Eastern) NBC A Washington waitress tries her luck at becoming a millionaire.

Little House on the Prairie, 8:00 p.m. (Eastern) TVLAND A fat, sensitive boy withstands classmates’ taunts but gets angry when Nancy spurns him.

Twitches, 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) Disney Channel Reunited on their 21st birthday, twin sisters use their magic powers to save their kingdom from the forces of darkness.

The Andy Griffith Show, 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) TVLAND Opie tries to win a present for Andy at a carnival.

It is striking to realize that the PTC believes we should all be watching either game shows, or re-runs of programs which have been off the air for 10 or more years. The overall problem, however, lies with the FCC’s overreaction to complaints from such groups. It has been well documented that the major networks have felt pressured by FCC rulings to withhold or censor programs such as documentaries dealing with 9/11, World War II, and Jazz. Reality, the actual lives and experiences of Americans, is just too indecent to people at the PTC to be shown on television. This is a microcosmic example of the problems within our nation: the overall premise for the past five years has been that representation creates reality. If no one swears on TV, then it can’t be happening in our country; if we all believe things are going “swimingly” in Afghanistan, then, by definition, they are. While conservatives constantly hype the moral relativism of the left, they have been busy trying to construct a reality composed of desire and simulation, rather than evidence. The FCC was chartered, in part, to ensure the public airwaves were used for public benefit. The FCC must come to the realization that the public benefits from seeing the world represented as it is, with the occasional profanity and sex that exists in it, and not as some people wish it was. Only then, can we all confront the actual problems which face our nation.

As much as the FCC bends over backwards to pander to groups wailing about indecency, it turns a deaf ear to groups advocating access and competition. While the FCC is more then willing to jump in and protect us from dangerous breasts on our televisions, it seems impotent to protect us from monopolies and price gouging. On Thursday, the FCC published it’s agenda for its October 12th open meeting. Two specific items on the agenda bode ill for American consumers:

4. WIRELINE COMPETITION
TITLE: AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corporation Application for Transfer of Control (WC Docket No. 06-74)
SUMMARY: The Commission will consider a Memorandum Opinion and Order regarding the transfer of control application of AT&T and BellSouth.

5. WIRELINE COMPETITION
TITLE: Broadband Industry Practices
SUMMARY: The Commission will consider Notice of Inquiry regarding broadband industry practices.

It is no coincidence that these items appear in this order on the agenda. Item 4 indicates that that the FCC will gives its final approval to the acquisition of BellSouth by AT&T. This will, once again, reduce the number of exchange carriers in America. Leaving customers with fewer choices and competition seems to be the current modus operandi of the commission. With the loss of BellSouth we are left with only three national carriers (Verizon, Qwest, AT&T) - I have good reason to believe that Qwest will soon be eliminated from that list. AT&T with its acquisition will now control exchange services for the majority of the United States. With this unprecedented, unregulated, control AT&T needs to make an all out effort to expand its services. This means a quick passage of COPE (HR.5252), without Network Neutrality protections, is essential to AT&T’s growth plan. The FCC’s notice that it will be considering a ‘Notice of Inquiry’ on broadband competition is the first step in neutering the Neutrality issue. In the world of the FCC, a Notice of Inquiry means that the commission will study and consider the issue — it is about the absolute lowest form of interest the FCC can take in any issue. Once the FCC has done this, the lame duck Congress can press for COPE to be passed under the protection of the argument that the FCC is studying Net Neutrality.

COPE radically changes the laws governing cable franchises and telecommunications services in this country. Without Network Neutrality protections it insures a monopoly on next-generation network services for the carriers and potentially threatens the free exchange of ideas on the Internet. Network Neutrality regulations are critical to ensuring that competitive and innovative services continue to evolve online. AT&T and others are banking on their monopoly to drive services and revenues, but that same monopoly ensures the type of broadband stagnation we have been experiencing in the US for the past 10 years. At a time when software developments are beginning to overcome this stagnation in telecommunications, AT&T and others wish to subject most of America’s Internet to same types of policies which have so ill served consumers across this country.

It is vital that any pressure felt by the current Senate to withhold COPE be doubled in the upcoming lame duck session. If not it is almost certain that the bill, as it stands, will be passed, and America will have lost both in consumer protection and economic innovation for years to come.

Contact your Senators regarding this issue

This entry was posted by steve on Saturday, October 7th, 2006 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Internet, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.