FCC to Permit Complete Media/Telecom Consolidation

rhwalker22 writes "Today's Washington Post has a piece reviewing some of the major decisions the Federal Communications Commission will be making in the next few months, moves that could fundamentally rewrite the rules for the broadcast media and Internet service providers. Excerpt: 'Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information, from programming of television and radio news and entertainment to owning the pipes that connect people to the Internet.'"

Comments

huh?

[TCaptain]

Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information, from programming of television and radio news and entertainment to owning the pipes that connect people to the Internet.

And how this is different from today?

Re:huh?

[Britissippi]

Ain't that the truth! With Clearchannel controlling every other radio station, AT&T Controlling almost all the phones and broadband access....

Not to mention the TV stations all being administered by a sinister few....

Re:huh?

[avi33]

I got news for you, these *are* the good times.

Imagine if Sony, your ISP/cable company, decides that you, as a consumer, really only need port 80. Their TOS allows them to monitor your computer for p2p apps, and while you're free to 'license' (listen to once, without recording) sony music and video for a small fee, any non-sony media will be subject to a bandwidth cap...so if you listen to non-sony internet radio, you hit your cap 4 days into the month. ...or, you could always try your hand with the other ISP, MicroDisneySoft.

Re:huh?

[akb]

The specific rules which are on the chopping block are the TV/radio crossownership restriction, the TV/newspaper restriction, caps on ownership on numbers of tv and radio stations that one entity can own in a market and nationally. See the Association of Independent Film and Videomakers advocacy page.

Another good resource is at the Center for Digital Democracy.

Re:huh?

[Heem]

Climb the tree. use it as a tower.

Re:huh?

[akb]

That info is pretty old. There is a new legal LPFM service, however it was severely hobbled after intense lobbying by industry which convinced Congress to take the unprecedented step of overriding the FCC on a technical matter. The outcome is hundreds of licenses were made available rather than several thousands, mostly in rural, sparsely populated areas. There are no licenses currently available with thousands more applications than there were frequencies.

For more info see the Prometheus Radio Project, they're former radio pirates that do grassroots organizing around this issue. They helped community groups apply for licenses and travel around helping to setup stations, are connected w/ lawyers and engineers that can help, really a great resource.

Re:huh?

[WPIDalamar]

Now the RIAA could buy the music stores, and only offer their music, instead of the RIAA just pressuring the music stores with price breaks.

Re:huh?

[spottedkangaroo]

What really upsets me... I work at an ILEC in michigan. We do billing for a bunch of CLECs and they're pretty much going to get destroyed by this. See part of the regs they want to axe relate to sharing the last mile. This dereg will literally put hundreds of CLECs out of business overnight.

SBC won't want to share with the 3 CLECs we deal with. They won't play nice, they'll simply up the rental fees until the CLECs are gone.

I don't want to hear any whining from SBC about how it costs too much to share either. We (at our little telco) know that's a lie... Everyone at the small ILEC/CLECs know -- and so do the people at SBC. But people with money always win... *shrug*

Re:huh?

[visualight]

I guess us libertarian geeks will just have to set up our own channels of communications.

Does anyone know if it's feasible to build local wans around the country and then start linking them together to create a "public" internet? I'm thinking about routing in particular. Is there anyone already working on something like this?

Re:huh?

[GrenDel Fuego]

Right now we have companies that practially (or actually) have monopolies in various industries.

With this change, you will have your Microsoft TV Channel, Microsoft radio station, Microsoft Newspaper, Microsoft Internet access, Microsoft Movies. (Or insert your other favorite Conglomerate. ATT or Disney perhaps?)

Then again, we've got MSN and MSNBC already, so we're pretty close already.

Re:huh?

[DunbarTheInept]

I guess us libertarian geeks will just have to set up our own channels of communications.

The Libertarians' flawed belief that a Corporation Can Do No Wrong is what got us into this situation in the first place.

Re:huh?

[kableh]

Of course!

One promising GPL one is Locust World, which combines a bootable Linux distro with the AODV routing software, 802.11 drivers, NAT functionality, and more. The AODV libraries are open source, and you could apply this to just about any wireless medium. More info about AODV in general .

And of course, the company I work for has a proprietary solution, but it is dependent on using our 802.11b card for the time being. That, and we aren't mass producing hardware at the moment. The tech is certainly there though! Mesh networking with 802.11 is just extending the topology of the wired internet to the wireless world.

As far as routing goes, ad hoc on-demand routing (implemented by the AODV libraries I mentioned above) is probably the best solution for building a scalable network. Wireless links are inherently unreliable, so a pure distance vector algorithm like RIP isn't the best solution, and routing updates on a large network would have a lot of overhead with many nodes.

Forgive me if I glossed over the subject, hopefully other can fill in the blanks =).

Re:huh?

[kableh]

In a hurry, messed up the links. Sorry for the repost.

Of course!

One promising GPL one is Locust World, which combines a bootable Linux distro with the AODV routing software, 802.11 drivers, NAT functionality, and more. The AODV libraries are open source, and you could apply this to just about any wireless medium. More info about AODV in general here.

And of course, the company I work for has a proprietary solution, but it is dependent on using our 802.11b card for the time being. That, and we aren't mass producing hardware at the moment. The tech is certainly there though! Mesh networking with 802.11 is just extending the topology of the wired internet to the wireless world.

As far as routing goes, ad hoc on-demand routing (implemented by the AODV libraries I mentioned above) is probably the best solution for building a scalable network. Wireless links are inherently unreliable, so a pure distance vector algorithm like RIP isn't the best solution, and routing updates on a large network would have a lot of overhead with many nodes.

Forgive me if I glossed over the subject, hopefully other can fill in the blanks =).

Re:huh?

[kableh]

Great, similar to the laws that were axed and allowed Clear Channel to destroy radio as we know it.

Any time a friend turns on the radio is sends me into a rant. There really isn't anything worth listening to any more, with the exception of NPR.

Thanks Michael Powell (though I'm not sure if he was chairman at the time). And thanks Clear Channel.

Re:huh?

[TrekCycling]

That's what I was thinking. We must stop media consolidation before it gets out of control!! Now leave me alone so I can go back to watching the Daily Show on Comedy Central, which is owned by Time Warner, which owns the #1 ISP in the world along with major film studios, indie film studios like Mirimax, around 20 cable TV channels and.......

Re:huh?

[mOdQuArK!]

Actually, I've always thought that a TRUE Libertarian would say that the government shouldn't be responsible for enforcing the concept of a "corporation", i.e., there would be no legal construct of corporation. (That wouldn't stop people from banding together as a cooperative economic organization, however.)

Re:huh?

[elmegil]

Do keep in mind that they were using the Libertarians', not the libertarians. You and I, we're libertarians. But the Libertarian Party is a bunch of Randroids who do apparently believe that a Corporation Can Do No Wrong (assuming it's held to its contracts).

Re:huh?

[Richy_T]

Well, I may not be exactly a libertarian but I do believe *most* of the dogma and that's certainly the way I feel too. I also think that patents and copyrights unfairly give too much power to corporations and should be abolished.

Rich

Re:huh?

[DunbarTheInept]

That depends on if you mean the PARTY that calls itself "libertarian" or the name for a fuzzy idea that calls itself "libertarian". The party is quite gung-ho on corporations. Some people who claim the name "libertarian" but aren't in the party do not.

Me, I don't know what to call myself, but I know that I don't like the idea of giving corporations the legal rights of personhood when it's not physically possible to also give them the responsibilities of personhood. (The only punishment you can give a corporation when it does wrong is to fine it money. You can't throw it in prison. If a corporation kills somebody, it can't get "20-to-life with a chance for parole in 15 years". In the Dimitri Skylarov case, the individual was detained in a jail awaiting trial. In the more recent Elcomsoft case, the corporation was not similarly punatively treated because it's not even physically possible. Thus legal battles between individuals and corporations are always lopsided against the individual.

Re:huh?

[DunbarTheInept]

The actual position is that the private sector, since it doesn't have the power to violate other people's rights (by definition)

Bullcrap. If I walk up to you and knife you in the back, then I, though a member of the "private sector", have successfully employed my power to violate your rights. Perhaps what you meant was that the private sector doesn't have the LEGAL power to violate other people's rights. If so, then that's only true because the the laws are set up to enforce it, and THAT's what's currently changing, BECAUSE of the flawed attitude that corporations can't do anything wrong.

Re:huh?

[DunbarTheInept]

ha ha you're thinking of CORPORATISTS, not libertarians.

ha ha you're thinking they're two different things.

On paper they are. In practice they are not. Consider the Libertarian party's stance on whether or not Microsoft has done anything wrong.

Re:huh?

[Luyseyal]

You can also revoke a corporation's charter in any given U.S. state and liquidate its assets. The problem is that state legislatures and judges are either too afraid to do it or don't know that's well within their rights (and I'd add, their duty to the public). Sure, the guys at the top will probably try to save as much cash as they can as it goes down, but it's much easier to track people who are visibly worried. Of course, businesses make business-level mistakes and the market will punish them for those. But the market won't necessarily be able to clean up all the toxic spills, illegally denied insurance claims, and other abuses taken for granted by those who assume some fundamental right to do business despite the human cost, i.e., the cost to other humans. The corporate charter is a contract with the public that in exchange for limited liability in certain areas, they'll be free to experiment, hire people, and make some dough. That contract is invalid when people suffer from intentional abuse or gross negligence.

I consider myself a lowercase 'l' libertarian progressive,
-l

Re:huh?

[Qrlx]

the market will punish bad decisions of corporations much more efficiently than the electoral system will punish bad decisions of government bodies.

You mean like the way the market punished Enron?

Oh, okay, Enron is out of business. But none of the execs are in jail. Looks like the free market only punished the worker bees at Enron, and all it cost was doubling the electicity rates of everyone on the west coast. Enron screwed the West Coast, and their punishment is that the poor slobs who were "only following orders" at Enron are out of a job, while the "evildoers" walk.

The incredible amounts of money that our regulated and semi-regulated industries deal in are far too tempting for private companies to not exploit, cook the books, what have you. Airlines, utilities, and rail travel all need to be run by the government (at least in large part.)

Look at RailTrack in the U.K. That worked well. Not.

While there is much less motivation to spend wealth wisely among politicians than among CEOs there is also much less incentive (or even possibility) to grant yourself huge stock options, bonuses, and multiple golden parachutes and escape clauses at the expense of your customers.

How can the "market" know who to punish when the CFOs at Enron and WorldCom are lying in their SEC filings? The market only finds out well after the crime has been committed, and hence it will always be reactive. What we need is a more proactive approach so we're not always cleaning up the next big corporate mess.

And how do you deal with the fact that private corporations will deliberately break the law, knowing that the fine is less than the cost of, say, disposing of hazardous waste properly? A public enterprise does not have the luxury of performing a cost-benefit analysis of doing something illegal. By contrast, a corporation is practically COMPELLED to consider illegal behavior if it represents an attractive value proposition to its shareholders.

Re:huh?

[arkanes]

That's both circular and stupid. The idea that the market will regulate corporations is the justification for removing regulatry controls over corporations, but you dismiss instances of corporate misbehavior as "occasionally breaking the law".

You're also totally divorced from any shred of reality or logical thinking with the idea that somehow people "doing nothing" somehow punishes a corporation. You have to do just as much work to convince someone to boycott a product as you do to convince them to vote for or against something, and, for large corporations, you have to do it in similar numbers. In fact, since there's often immediate personal downside to voting with your money (higher prices, for example), it's often much harder. Your arguments only hold so far as you define a "well-behaved" corporation as one that makes money. That's easy. Making a corporation behave for the best benefit of society and not for the short-term interest of it's major shareholders, that's hard.

Furthermore, monopolies, which are the inevitable end result of a non-regulated market, aren't subject to market pressures, especially when they control anything essential to life or, more importantly, channels of communication.

The government's job is not to make money, it's to provide for the public trust. It does that in many ways, both through directly spending money (how good do you think our highway system would be if it were privatized? How much more would you pay in direct fees to use it than you do in taxes?) and through legislation.

Re:huh?

[DunbarTheInept]

Yeah. I suspected I'd get a literal-minded prick like you who'd read my words with the least charitable interpretation possible,

If you don't mean it, don't say it. I apologise for falsely attributing to you the willingness to be honest.

You are ascribing to the libertarian party the exact opposite of their views.

No. The libertarian party favors Microsoft in their various legal anti-trust battles. That is evidence enough by itself to prove they DO believe a corporation making money must necessarily be doing the public good.

Re:huh?

[DunbarTheInept]

That proves nothing other than the willingness of ESR to buck the party line on this subject - a good mental trait I must say (I don't trust people who don't have at least SOME disagreements with their own political parties' platforms on occasion.) But that isn't relevant in a discussion about what the party happens to put forward as their opinion. The fact that there exist libertarians who don't agree doesn't change the fact that that IS the party position.

Unification

[grub]

You'll have to start making out your cheques to "AOL-TimeWarner-Disney-MGM-Universal, an Exxon Company"

Re:Unification

[Gyan]

"You'll have to start making out your cheques to "AOL-TimeWarner-Disney-MGM-Universal, an Exxon Company"

Actually, no. Who do you think will own the bank your account's at ?

Re:Unification

[mustangdavis]

"AOL-TimeWarner-Disney-MGM-Universal, an Exxon Company"

Hey, waht about the other conglomerate, "SBC-20th Century Fox-Viacom-ABC-Amazon-Microsoft Corp (MSNBC)-DirectTV, an Enron Company"

(They have more experience with lawyers and court rooms ... and thus, they'll win)

Re:Unification

[swb]

Who needs banks? Since you'll work for them, they'll just keep an account for you at the company store, which will be always just slightly negative in balance.

Re:Unification

[Jace of Fuse!]

They own a whole lot of other stuff I just can't think of off hand.

I'll help you.

It starts with an "E" and ends with a "G"... and that which is between is VERYTHIN.

That should clear things up.

Re:Unification

[LostCluster]

If The Company is publically traded, you can buy shares and their for profit from the fact you and everyone around you is being ripped of.

Have you noticed that most of the truely evil companies have large shareholders, but not a true majority owners? Yep, we're ripping ourselves off so we can fund our own retirement in our 401k.

Re:Unification

[sconeu]

Nope, can't happen. Disney owns ABC. Now, replace ABC with NBC!!!

SBC-20th Century Fox-Viacom-NBC-Amazon-Microsoft Corp(MSNBC)-DirectTV, an Enron Company.

Re:Unification

[bedessen]

Yeah, but since you will pay all your bills to the same company, the checks will just come with the "Pay to the order of:" pre-printed, for your convenience. No other options are available. Why would you want to pay anyone else, anyway?

Fear???

[mustangdavis]

'Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information, from programming of television and radio news and entertainment to owning the pipes that connect people to the Internet.

Yoda almost had it right ...

Fear leads to anger
Anger leads to hate
Hate ... leads to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information???

Last Chance to Diss Your ISP

[burgburgburg]

Get in your shots now. In a few months, your service agreement will forbid such anti-corporate comments. And since they corporations work for the common good, that's reasonable. Now sit down, watch Rollerball, take your pills and stop idolizing Jonathan. Rollerball is not about individuals.

Re:Last Chance to Diss Your ISP

[jc42]

In a few months, your service agreement will forbid such anti-corporate comments

If your ISP is one of the many now owned by msn.com (i.e., Microsoft), your EULA probably already forbids this, except perhaps in jurisdictions where there are local laws against such restrictions. And in the US as a whole, such restrictive terms are legal. Under the DMCA, publicly describing bugs or flaws in any product you buy or rent is illegal..

--

Well...

[CFBMoo1]

If it gets bad I can always use carrier pigeons to connect. So long as it isn't hunting season my packet loss should be acceptable.

Re:reg. required???

[Hemos]

Um...you thought wrong?

No, we prefer not linking to them, but given that most sites are switching to that, I don't really see a choice in the matter.

this is a good thing

[Fict]

i work for a *major* US telecom provider, and i must say this:

DON'T PANIC.

trust me on this one. yes, we do have plans to merge with at least three other companies, mostly medium-sized regional providers. what we haven't told you, however, is that this merge will allow us to provide high-end DSL service to residences across the country for less than $10 / mo.

we will be able to do this due to the fact that there will be no middle-man provider. there are also some amazing projects in the works regarding satellite and wireless data transmission. think: global wireless network, anywhere in the world, anyone in the world, no charge. the bandwidth will be limited to 19.2 bps initially, but the coverage will be absolutely ground-breaking.

what's in it for us? .. yes, there is a catch...

Re:this is a good thing

[MImeKillEr]

trust me on this one. yes, we do have plans to merge with at least three other companies, mostly medium-sized regional providers. what we haven't told you, however, is that this merge will allow us to provide high-end DSL service to residences across the country for less than $10 / mo.

Cool. Now get them to do away with the contracts and I'll DEFINITELY switch to DSL and tell TimeWarner to "GFY".

That is, as long as the service isn't over-sold to the point that I'd get better service slapping in a 19.2 baud modem and going back to dial-up..

Re:this is a good thing

[broody]

So what your saying is so what if a handful of corporations gain even more control over the media as long as we get cheap DSL?

Re:this is a good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

"trust me on this one. yes, we do have plans to merge with at least three other companies, mostly medium-sized regional providers. what we haven't told you, however, is that this merge will allow us to provide high-end DSL service to residences across the country for less than $10 / mo."

Sure, with 1GB download cap, no uploading and service contract which forbids using P2P software?

I don't see how unrestricted high-end DSL can cost $10/mo.

Re:this is a good thing

[WPIDalamar]

Or... since you'll be a monopoly, you'll jack up the price nice and high.

Or maybe that $10/month will only last until a majority of people have signed up, then the price will go way up.

Re:this is a good thing

[bigpat]

the $10/month is the service charge... then there is the $5/dollar per month universal service charge which will certainly be upped to $7 or $30/month by government mandate to "soften the blow" of all the secondary regulations that will be imposed after this supposed deregulation, then there will be taxes and other fees that go directly back to the corporations or to a fund a Senator's pet projects.

What costs $10/month these days? I'm sure we will get what we deserve in service. Does anyone trust ATT, AOL or Disney to give it to us?

Re:this is a good thing

[Guppy06]

" i work for a *major* US telecom provider, and i must say this:

DON'T PANIC."

You're tied financially to these corps. Why should I trust you?

"is that this merge will allow us to provide high-end DSL service to residences across the country for less than $10 / mo."

As in "It will cost the telecom companies less than $10/month," or "End customers will be paying less than $10/month?" These are two very different things. With less capitalistic competition in the market, the telecoms have no incentive to pass their savings on to the customers. If anything, the savings will be passed on to the investors (higher profits, higher stock dividends).

"we will be able to do this due to the fact that there will be no middle-man provider."

Which also means there's fewer areas in which to compete against you.

Or as Bill Gates once said....

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

"But senator, you say 'Industry-wide consolidation' like it's a BAD thing!"

Oh, and Bill didn't say this. He didn't say "640k should be enough for anybody" either, but the 'net is a funny thing.

Humpty Dumpty

[Sonny Yatsen]

Well, we broke up Humpty Dumpty (Bell) and now we're putting them back together again. Yeah, the US is definitely in the consumer's corner.

Define Irony

[jweb]

At one hearing last summer, Hollings all but called Powell a shill for big business in general and the large regional telephone companies in particular.

So, if I got read this correctly, Fritz (Disney) Hollings is calling Powell a corporate whore?

Re:Define Irony

[(trb001)]

Irony is the wrong word...hypocrisy is the one you're looking for.

--trb

Re:Define Irony

[jweb]

This is why I wasn't an English major in college. Thanks for the correction.

Re:Define Irony

[LostCluster]

Yes. You see, Disney doesn't own any cable systems, and not very many TV stations compared to others. It's absolutely dependant on others to push its content out.

If the phone and cable companies get more powerful, that's bad for Disney, therefore Fritz is against it.

Re:Define Irony

[sconeu]

WTF are you talking about? Disney owns a fscking major network!! Or haven't you heard of ABC?

Re:Define Irony

[LostCluster]

They own a network, but ABC does not own very many TV stations.

Therfore, they are depending on companies such as Hearst-Argile to make the last-mile link between the network programming and the viewers. If Hearst-Argile were ever to decide to create its own network using its stations to start it, ABC would suddenly be off the air in several major cities, and in the crouded TV field would have a hard time finding replacement affiliates without taking a major downgrade.

Likewise, The Disney Channel, ESPN, and ABC Family are cable networks... but Disney doesn't have a cable system with which to make the last-mile link. If cable companies decided to walk away from Disney, those cable networks would suddenly be devalued with no way to reach end viewers.

Owning content is worthless if you have no way to sell it to somebody.

This is already happening...

[MImeKillEr]

Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information, from programming of television and radio news and entertainment to owning the pipes that connect people to the Internet.

This is already happening with Radio. Proof? Two words: Clear Channel.

Do you have a KISS-FM in your town? That's Clear Channel. They're putting cookie-cutter pop radio stations (all called KISS-FM) in major markets. In addition to owning KISS-FM in nearly every market, they own TV stations, billboards, concert venues, etc.

Check out this link.
Click here and search for 'kiss' -- you'll find 51 stations, all the same format, all the same manufactured pop stars, all the same type of dopey deejays.

Its radio like this that keeps me listening to CDs.

Re:This is already happening...

[akb]

Clearchannel is "just" radio and billboards, they own ~1300 radio stations. And all this has happened since 1996! Before that 20 stations was the national limit. I think the change has been very dramatic, the quality of radio programming has gone done so much everywhere nationally I don't even really bother looking for good radio.

The FCC thinks all this has been good and wants to extend this model to all other media that it regulates!

Re:This is already happening...

[Telastyn]

And with this law they can buy out/merge with a nice large ISP (earthlink, juno anyone?) and then make all of their "content" (discounted music rights) available to only their isp's customers.

Not to mention that here in the SF Bay Area (and most everywhere it seems) Clear Channel owns ~80% of the music radio stations, and ~100% of the large concert venues. Making the radio universally similar.

Re:This is already happening...

[(trb001)]

I totally agree, Clear Channel buying everything up reduces cost but also quality. Same with any national chain.

The one exception I will give is in DC...DC101 (101.1) is awesome. The morning DJ, Elliot, bashes Clear Channel whenever he gets the chance. Anyone from the DC/MD/NoVa region can back me up on this.

--trb

Re:This is already happening...

[MImeKillEr]

Clearchannel is "just" radio and billboards, they own ~1300 radio stations.

Unfortunately, you're mistaken. Taken directly from http://www.clearchannel.com/ci.php:

"Clear Channel Worldwide (Clear Channel Communications, Inc., NYSE: CCU), headquartered in San Antonio, TX, is a global leader in the out-of-home advertising industry with radio and television stations, outdoor displays, and entertainment venues in 66 countries around the world. Including announced transactions, Clear Channel operates approximately 1,225 radio and 37 television stations in the United States and has equity interests in over 240 radio stations internationally. Clear Channel also operates approximately 776,000 outdoor advertising displays, including billboards, street furniture and transit panels around the world. Clear Channel Entertainment is a leading promoter, producer and marketer of live entertainment events and also owns leading athlete management and marketing companies." (emphasis mine).

Re:This is already happening...

[dnoyeb]

I disagree that it even reduces cost.

when the internet first arrived I went with MCI for my ISP. Local ISP were able to provide better service and cost.

Big companies CAN NOT provide customer service. They eternally suck at it. The Middle man in the ISP arena has been a source of reduced cost for us internet users, not added costs.

This is the idea the Auto Industry has been focusing on for years. They are always divesting themselves of departments in hopes of creating bigger middle-men to take some of the load off them.

See, their are certian things that ALL the Big3 require, why not let a supplier do that for them all since its the same job. This REDUCES, not increases, redundancy. Consolidation will destroy internet quality, but to me thats ok. This will cause more people to roll their own internet. The only bad part is when this big corps go bankrupt the idiots in the government will give them billions of my dollars to stay afloat...

Re:This is already happening...

[LostCluster]

KISS-FM is the most visible format clone, but if you have a station that does local news in the morning, Rush Limbaugh around lunchtime, and Art Bell at late night, you have a cookie-cutter Clear Channel talk station.

There is no such thing as a major independent national news voice in TV or radio anymore. They're all owned by Viacom, Disney, General Electric, News Corp., and AOL/Time Warner, or they take funding from the U.S. Government.

The only places you find small news outlets still alive is local TV (because the big companies are restricted from buying stations that reach all of the population) and print newspapers (because the big companies are restricted from buying newspapers where they own local stations).

If those barriers are lifted, what do you think is gonna happen?

Re:This is already happening...

[MImeKillEr]

my big questions is this: when do we see the shift from clearchannel following the market to clearchannel shaping the market to their ideas?

I imagine that this is already happening subtly. They could easily not play an artist whose image or music they find offensive or not conforming to their perception of 'family values'. Take a look at the "new" Christina Aguleria. Notice how she looks like a $2 whore now? ClearChannel could decide that, based on her current image they'd rather not play her music or allowed to perform in their venues. Since they own a boatload of channels and venues across the country she could potentially get less air time, sell less records, earn less at concerts and generally be put out of business.

Normally, this would be a good thing. However, no corporation should have that kind of power.

Re:This is already happening...

[the_rev_matt]

Technically, not all the same type of dopey deejays. Just one DJ who prerecords everything. Travel between two Clear Channel cities and you'll find that it's the same DJ in both cities. Media consolidation is the number one reason for decline in album sales, not p2p. Clear channel is destroying music, Time/universal/sony are destroying movies/television/news. Welcome to the brave new world.

Re:This is already happening...

[jandrese]

Well, there's NPR, which barely recieves any money from the government anymore.

Re:This is already happening...

[LostCluster]

True, but discount all of the NPR stations that are connected to either a PBS TV station or a college... and how many do you have left?

Re:This is already happening...

[robson]

The FCC thinks all this has been good and wants to extend this model to all other media that it regulates!

I'm not afraid. As long as there's a norm to react to, counterculture will thrive. When all you have is spoon-fed corporation-constructed pop, it will just inspire underground artists to work that much harder to buck the system and be heard. By the time Unicorp (AOL-Time-Warner-Fox-Disney) owns all of our cable and phone lines, we'll already be hard at work building our home-grown WiFi networks.

It's a perpetual but healthy struggle. It's like a cultural free-market system.

Re:This is already happening...

[TheSync]

That said, the NewsHour with Jim Leher was recently named the most credible and objective television news show.

PBS gets funding from a wide mix, that includes federal, state & local governments, as well as universities, corporate underwriters, and don't forget "viewers like you."

Re:This is already happening...

[akb]

Hmm, interesting. I'm not sure if you're going as far to espouse a historical determinism or not. Counter cultures are often underestimated it is true, but I myself think that control by corporate interests of the mainstream media results in a society that suffers as a result.

I think this can be seen in how the media differs in European countries from the US. Most Europeans I know are shocked at the vacuousness of US news, how narrow the presentation of issues is and how uncritical the reporting is. European nations generally support public media and the arts as well. That has a genuine impact on the quality of life and character of the society.

I don't think we should settle for the margins. Media and a working democracy are very closely linked. Ceding the mainstream media to corporate interests basically cedes government and society to the highest bidder.

Re:This is already happening...

[robson]

I don't think we should settle for the margins. Media and a working democracy are very closely linked. Ceding the mainstream media to corporate interests basically cedes government and society to the highest bidder.

I'm not arguing that we shouldn't fight these grand moves toward media unification -- in fact, that fight is critical. I'm just saying that I trust us, the individuals and non-corporate groups, to consistently stay one step ahead of anyone who'd endeavor to control our consumption of art and information. In other words, I'm concerned but not scared :)

Re:This is already happening...

[elmegil]

Unfortunately, this is what sells these days. they wouldn't be doin it if it wasn't making money.

I think it's just a matter of this is what makes money today. It's easy to make money selling total crap if your cost for entry is so low it doesn't matter if only 1% actually pay. Clearchannel is the radio equivalent of SPAM.

Re:This is already happening...

[MImeKillEr]

Actually, I think they're stationed out of San Antonio. Living in Austin, I've not heard that they're churning out the same crappy signal to 51 stations around the US.

The radio towers in the area don't appear to be any bigger than the local-only stations as well.

Unless they're hiding them somewhere in the hill country (entirely possible).

We'll all work for...

[sdo1]

... The Company.

What was a sci-fi fantasy/warning is quickly becoming a reality. In the future there will be one corporate entity indistinguishible from and intertwined with the government.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

-S

I think I heard this on the news

[bigsexyjoe]

But they assured the audience that the changes were double-plus good.

Obvious

[Qrlx]

Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information

Shouldn't that be fewer powerful conglomerates?

Deregulation of the telecom industry has brought us the lowest rates ever! Of course, we're paying fees, taxes, tariffs, surcharges, adjustments, and recoupments that didn't even exist before, but look -- deregulation must work because rates are lower.

The situation with deregulation in this country has put the foxes in charge of hen house.

For my opinion of FCC Chairman Michael Powell, read my other post.

Re:Obvious

[akb]

I think the point is that fewer players == less competition. Many people would have preferred that ATT and Comcast compete rather than merge.

Deregulation led to lower rates in telecomm because there was competition. Deregulation has also seen cable rates skyrocket and the radio dial go to crap as competition is hobbled in those areas.

TV companies to go the M$ way?

[p944]

[clip], set restrictions on how many TV and radio stations can be owned by one company, and determine whether a company can own both newspapers and TV stations that serve the same community.

I guess if they let any TV network own as many channels as they want, then they too can use M$s "embrace and destroy" method of market domination by just buying all the small competition.

Not convinced about the idea that this won't stop new entrants into the market place and any that do appear will get rapidly snapped up by one of the big 3 to be.

That prospect has Amazon, Microsoft Corp. and a coalition of other technology companies worried that those gatekeepers could prevent users from looking at certain content

How many consumers would seriously put up with internet content being blocked if it's not the suppliers companies content?

Maybe certain ISPs would be born that are basically a new version of TV channels - only their content but provided for a lower price...

Re:reg. required???

[Genady]

Oh give me a break! The post's 'registration' is fairly inocuous (you don't even have to have a username/password). Besides as far as they know I'm a 100 year old woman from Colorado.

in the IT world

[ideonode]

In most companies I've worked with, communications and media are bundled in the same vertical anyway - typically something like ICE (Information-Communication-Entertainment) or similar. From a purely technical standing, I don't think it makes much difference.

From a socio-political position, however, it further blurs the distinction between medium and message. Damn that McLuhan - he was smart!

Re:in the IT world

[LostCluster]

This is the reason why there has to be walls between the people who make the content, the channels that present the content, and technical provider that delivers the channels.

If the market is permitted to behave naturally, we will be down to a small handful of players who own the entire process including the studio to make the content, the cable channels that package the content, and then the communication networks with which to sell the cable channels. This seems okay on the surface, but there's a huge problem.

It's hard to start a movie studio, it's hard to start a cable network, and it's hard to start a cable system / satellite company. However, it's much more than three times as hard to have to start all three at the same time. (If any one component of the three is a failure, the whole project gets knocked off course even if the other two components are perfect.) By redefining what used to be three games into one, they have made it much harder for new enterants to get in their way.

BTW... why hasn't Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, or Peter Jennings done an in-depth report on the effects of communications industry consoldiation?

Re:in the IT world

[program21]

BTW... why hasn't Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, or Peter Jennings done an in-depth report on the effects of communications industry consoldiation?

Thanks, I needed a laugh today.

This is going to get worst

[TerryAtWork]

before it gets better.

Re:Media

[mustangdavis]

This is progress. Using economies of scale they would be able to construct truly awe-inspiring sets,

HUH!!???

This isn't progress ... this is buying out the competition!!

No longer would I have to sit and watch unattractive boring people like Ted Koppel or that fat chick from CNN tell me about the war in Iraq

Do you REALLY want Keanu Reeves and Tori Spelling giving you the news??? They might look good after many takes, but I don't think too many actors are going to hold their own on any good debate shows or if they have to improv. when the teleprompter goes down ...

Where do I sign up!

First, shouldn't that be in the form of a question?

Secondly, the answer is: NO WHERE!!!

This is a terrible idea! Imagine every web page with Mickey Mouse's face on it!! Porn wouldn't look so good at that point ...

Or even worse ... that damn AOL triangle in the upper left corner of all web pages ... and all emails come with the "You've got mail.wav" attached to them .... AHHHHHHH!!!!!

Ironic...

[Thud457]

You know, if this wasn't so damn serious, I would consider it hilarious that my crazy 'nam vet uncle Frank's paranoid fantasies once more prove correct!

He used to spout crazy shit about the CIA running drugs too.

It's a sad commentary on the world when current events seem like a cheap rehash of "Illuminatus!"
Crap, he's probably right about the aliens, too.

One Station to Rule them all

[doublem]

Clear Channel,

Making sure radio sounds exactly the same, all across America.

Listen to Clear Channel. The RIAA knows what the best music is.

You don't really need this blues, bluegrass, or other small market music.

All you need it pop, "alternative" and Soft Rock.

Clear Channel, the only way your brain will receive entertainment form here on out.

Re:One Station to Rule them all

[Anonymous Cow herd]

Why not? It worked for McD's, Starbucks, and just about every franchise chain out there... people don't care if big corporations give them shitty quality stuff, as long as it's the same shitty quality stuff wherever you go.

Re:One Station to Rule them all

[doublem]

"Better the crap we know than the quality we don't?"

Well...

[Rogerborg]

I for one welcome our new insect - er, media - overlords.

Why limit ourselves to only a few variants of democracy? There are plenty of other options. It's time to give honest plutocracy, argentocracy, timocracy, or even quangocracy a chance.

Rule Number 1:

[burgburgburg]

When someone from a major corporation explains that what they are doing is a good thing and exclaims

DON'T PANIC

the one thing you can be sure you need to do forthwith is PANIC!!!!

No delays now. Start running down the streets screaming at the top of your lungs, rending your clothes and flinging yourself into plate glass windows. It's for your own good.

Show me the money

[oliverthered]

It would be, umm.... nice to know how much the media corps 'donate' and how much the oposition donate, not that there's anything dubious about the desision.

Re:Show me the money

[akb]

Check Open Secrets, they break things down by industry. The media industry has a special relationship with politics because politicians have to pay for advertising time. Its huge money for them, $billions. Off the Record is a great report that looks at the media industry and politics.

Michael Powell runs the FCC (+1 Truth)

[TimeReliesOnLadyLuck]

Michael Powell is Colin Powell's son, and he is known as "friendly to industry" - meaning that your media corp can get whatever it wants from the FCC, for the right amount of campaign contributions.

Example of a media company controlling a country

[Lobsang]

Brazil is a good example of what happens when media corporations are allowed to do whatever they want.

Brazil's biggest media company is called "Rede Globo" (Globo Network). They own radios (both AM and FM), TV stations across the country and newspapers.

It's hard to describe the power of such corporations although the US is beginning to have a glimpse of what happens when media becomes a tycoon controlled business.

Rede Globo's ascent to power began in the mid 60's when they sided unilateraly with the military (Brazil was forcefully ruled by the military for 20 years starting in 1964, with lots of torture and deaths -- all with the consent of the US governement, but then it's a different story). Newscasts at that time use to portray any opposer as "subversive". The whole thing grew to be what it is today: A big conglomerate with tentacles in all sections of the society.

One interesting example is what happened to "Fernando Collor", a whacko that eventually got elected as the Brazilian President some years ago. Globo supported Collor fiercely, as the other candidate was Lula (the current Brazilian president). Corporations were very afraid that a left wing candidate would win and Globo used all their power in favor of Collor. Later, winds changed and Collor started to go really nuts. Result: Globo gave all attention (nationwide!) to anti-Collor movements across the country. Lots of dust under the rug came to light and he was eventually impeached.

And if this was not enough, consider this: In the US, when Britney Spears starts singing on the radio you just say a few bad words and change the station (OK, OK, it's going to be hard to find a good one). In Brazil, when Globo wants to impose a new fad, you'll see that on TV most of the time, you'll listen on a few radio stations and on the highest circulation newspapers. You cannot escape the annoyance. You just cannot.

here comes the dictatorship

[elmegil]

Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information, from programming of television and radio news and entertainment to owning the pipes that connect people to the Internet.

Which is of course what you would want if you were trying to subvert democracy and freedom...a task some members of the current administration have already made great inroads on.

Re:here comes the dictatorship

[thelexx]

Someone had this quote in their sig on another thread:

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power" -- Mussolini

Needless to say, I saved it!

Re:here comes the dictatorship

[Alyeska]

This is perfect. The Government can't legally supress free speech. So instead, they deregulate until all the media is in the hands of a few, and the speech is then quelled by censors/moderators and EULAs. Later, they'll make large investments in unneccessary technology that will be legally required before you can provide ISP service -- so what used to cost a few thousand to start, now would take hundreds of millions -- thus leaving everyone priced out of the game.

It's beautiful. The privatization of suppression.

Re:here comes the dictatorship

[vldmr_krn]

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power" -- Mussolini

More information about this (section titled "7 Fascism"). Particularly the following:

The programme of the Fascists, as drafted in 1919, was vehemently anti-capitalistic. The most radical New Dealers and even communists could agree with it. When the Fascists came to power, they had forgotten those points of their programme which referred to the liberty of thought and the press and the right of assembly. In this respect they were conscientious disciples of Bukharin and Lenin. Moreover they did not suppress, as they had promised, the industrial and financial corporations. Italy badly needed foreign credits for the development of its industries. The main problem for Fascism, in the first years of its rule, was to win the confidence of the foreign bankers. It would have been suicidal to destroy the Italian corporations.

Fascist economic policy did not--at the beginning--essentially differ from those of all other Western nations. It was a policy of interventionism. As the years went on, it more and more approached the Nazi pattern of socialism. When Italy, after the defeat of France, entered the second World War, its economy was by and large already shaped according to the Nazi pattern. The main difference was that the Fascists were less efficient and even more corrupt than the Nazis.

But Mussolini could not long remain without an economic philosophy of his own invention. Fascism posed as a new philosophy, unheard of before and unknown to all other nations. It claimed to be the gospel which the resurrected spirit of ancient Rome brought to the decaying democratic peoples whose barbarian ancestors had once destroyed the Roman empire. It was the consummation both of the Rinascimento and the Risorgimento in every respect, the final liberation of the Latin genius from the yoke of foreign ideologies. Its shining leader, the peerless Duce, was called to find the ultimate solution for the burning problems of society's economic organization and of social justice.

From the dust-heap of discarded socialist utopias, the Fascist scholars salvaged the scheme of guild socialism. Guild socialism was very popular with British socialists in the last years of the first World War and in the first years following the Armistice. It was so impracticable that it disappeared very soon from socialist literature. No serious statesman ever paid any attention to contradictory and confused plans of guild socialism. It was almost forgotten when the Fascists attached it to a new label, and flamboyantly proclaimed corporativism as the new social panacea. The public inside and outside of Italy was captivated. Innumerable books, pamphlets and articles were written in praise of the stato corporativo. The governments of Austria and Portugal very soon declared that they were committed to the noble principles of corporativism. The papal encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (1931) contained some paragraphs which could be interpreted--but need not be--as an approval of corporativism. In France its ideas found many eloquent supporters.

It was mere idle talk. Never did the Fascists make any attempt to realize the corporativist programme, industrial self-government. They changed the name of the chambers of commerce into corporative councils. They called corporazione the compulsory organizations of the various branches of industry which were the administrative units for the execution of the German pattern of socialism they had adopted. But there was no question of the corporazione's self-government. The Fascist cabinet did not tolerate anybody's interference with its absolute authoritarian control of production. All the plans for the establishment of the corporative system remained a dead letter.

Don't need no stinkin competition

[Tisha_AH]

Sounds groovy, Buy your computers from IBM Buy your operating system from Microsoft Buy your telecom/ internet from BellSouth ------------ I have had to deal with all three and they suck equally as well. (BTW, I work for a CLEC so I have firsthand experience dealing with an incumbent (incompetent(BellSouth)) phone company with ego's the size of Montana) ------------ DSL is so damned expensive and unavailable rurally because of the baby bell's arcane, antiquated systems that they don't want to upgrade. They just hope that the competition (CLEC's) go away so they can continue to sell you shitty service through the rest of the 21st century. ------------ Take a look at the tarrif pricing on a DS1 or a DS3! Talk about dis-incentive for anyone expect for a fortune 500 to buy. The RBOC's hate bundled (data and voice)services, they hate UNE-P's, they hate their customers. Just send them the money and shut your mouth.

1930's, part deux

[kraksmoka]

"That assumes that the antitrust division takes a pill and goes to sleep," said Powell, who once worked in that Justice Department division

HELOOOOO! it is asleep already! two letters M$

in the 30's the fcc shifted from a public interest view of it's job to a pro-business view. as a result, enourmous barriers to entry were constructed in TV and Radio.

fact is, the system in place favors the regional phone companies too much already. its nearly impossible to switch DSL providers without a massive downtime and loss of productivity. cable is only as good as the local monopoly that provides it (if its like here with AT&T, not even worth the hassle of dealing with those incompetents), and many cable co.s are providing downstream only links to prevent sharing, with a dial in modem for up, awful. i thought broadband's big advantage was that you don't need a second telephone line.

fact is, the only way to break the hegemony of the regionals is for someone to step in and require that the infrastructure is separated entirely from the sales and marketing, and make baby bells that once again become public utilities instead of sanctioned monopolies.

Chomsky's Media Control

[Infonaut]

Whether you agree with his views or not, Noam Chomsky never fails to make you think, even if it's just to formulate a response to his arguments.

If you're interested in the effects of media consolidation and government propaganda, check out this short summary of a pamphlet Chomsky put out during the Gulf War.

I disagree with huge chunks of what he says in this pamphlet and subsequent pronouncements. But he has been writing about the consolidation and manipulation of the American media for many years, and if current trends continue, his annoying rants may mirror the truth more closely than any of us would like.

Re:Chomsky's Media Control

[jafac]

No. If current trends continue, we simply won't be hearing from the likes of Chomsky anymore.

Sorry, can't back you up.

[wiredog]

I grew up listening to DC101 in the 70's and 80's. DC101 sucks today. When was the last time they played a local act?

Admittedly, not as bas as WHFS, which used to be an alternative station, but only barely not as bad.

Re:Sorry, can't back you up.

[Qrlx]

You should be listening to 89.3 WPFW. No corporate sponsors, no ads. Occasionally they ahve a pledge drive, during which time you can listen to HFS again and remember how horrible it was listening to commerical radio.

Re:In Some Regulatory environments

[The Wicked Priest]

He certainly is not, though he was a Clinton appointee. (Clinton is no liberal, either.) Bush Jr. made him chairman. I refer you to his official biography:

http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/powell/mkp_biog ra phy.html

("Mr. Powell, a Republican"). He's SofS Colin Powell's son, by the way. He's probably what passes for a "moderate" these days, which is to say, a hard right-winger.

I take it you're one of those libertarian-minded folks who's under the delusion that the Republican party is libertarian.

Wipe my greymatter off the moniter

[sam_handelman]

What we slashdotters need to do is to get involved in supporting the campaigns of legislators with the courage to speak out against corporate excesses, like.... Fritz Hollings?

And, when a legislator sells out, we need to join together in working toward their ouster, like... Fritz

Damn, my head exploded again.

Anyway, my point is this - Disney is not the worst corporation out there. Fritz' may be 0wn3d by Disney, but at least he doesn't belong to AT&T. I may not like Disney's plans for DRM, but they've never sponsored the overthrow of a national government (ITT, the predecessor of AT&T, aided Pinochet in establishing a military dictatorship in Chile. Search the page for ITT.)

So, would AT&T abuse their power to suborn Democracy? They already have. I sure don't trust them.

Bah, none of this really matters...

[bahwi]

None of this really matters, it's just to reduce paperwork. Think about it, 5 companies, working together, or one big company? One big company = less paperwork. Now that the Microsoft Project(tm) has shown that the people really don't mind full blown monopolies as long as they keep us under control, it's not a problem and now they want to do it. Everyone knows all the major companies are owned and run by the Illumana%!@#$ NO CARRIER

Oops

[bahwi]

What I meant to say was that I think this is a good thing and that we should trust our corporations. There is no one controlling everything behind our backs, we are a capitalist society where one can rise to the top. I for one will trust the corporations with my soul.

I can see it now....

[DailyGrind]

One day I will wake up and unable to open the electronically controlled front door to my condo I will have to call North East America Inc support center....

me: dial
phone: Welcome to North East America Inc... your call is important to us... etc.. press 01 for support with your phone; 02 for support with cable; 03 for support with your internet; 04 for support with your climate control; .....etc.... 99 if you cannot open your door.

me: 99... wait...
phone: sir, your buildings central waste monitoring facility has detected trace amounts of marijuana. as you know drugs fund terrorism and terrorism is un-American. as a precaution we have temporarily detained all occupants pending an investigation

me: what! ... I am going to e-mail my Congressman about this...
phone: sir, the central e-mail monitoring facility has detected that your e-mails contain words like "high", "da bomb", and "explosive" and may refer to un-American activities and therefore your e-mail has been suspended...

me: nuts!, I am moving out west!
phone: sir, we have logged your request and are sending you a Western America Inc transfer form. There is a $20,000 transfer fee.

me: thats it I am moving to Canada!
phone: sir, only terrorists live in Canada... please stand by security services are on the way...we have restricted your TV to receive Lawyer commercials you may wish to watch while you wait... have a nice day.

The rumor about Britney

[burgburgburg]

The rumor about Britney Spears concerning ClearChannel is that she since she did not have ClearChannel book/control her latest tour, ClearChannel radio stations "independently" decided her newest album did not deserve to be on the hot play lists.

Considering the lack of discernable quality difference in her albums (take that as you will), this seems a plausible explanation.

Re:Example of a media company controlling a countr

[LostCluster]

One tactic in radio avertising is called "buying the market". That is the act of a single sponsor buying a commercial spot that is scheduled to be run at roughly the same time on every major statiion in the city. No matter what station you listen to, or even if you hop between stations, there's likely no way you'll not hear this sponsor's message that day.

This is a pretty rare tactic because it's both expensive and hard to do. (You have to buy time from several different companies, and some stations might not have an ad slot available where you want it.) However, if the same media company controls all of the signals that you listen to, it's very easy for a sponsor to deal with one company to push whatever message it wants out to you.

Irony also applies

[JohnDenver]

insofar as we usually don't expect corporate whores calling other corporate whores, a corporate whore.

Hypocrisy is usually ironic.

Re:Irony also applies

[radish]

Hypocrisy is usually ironic.


Don't know about you, but I usually expect hypocritical behaviour from people with power, thus it is certainly not ironic when it occurs.

Re:Irony also applies

[RollingThunder]

Indeed, cf: cops can scoop trash without a search warrant, but not reporters.

Re:Irony also applies

[JohnDenver]

Irony is also relative from person to person. One man's irony is another man's common sense.

Many people also believe that Sen. Hollings and George W. are decent folk just trying to save the world from pirates and evil-doers.

Just because I see through the horse-shit, you see through the horse-shit, doesn't mean the rest of these people see through the horse-shit.

Traditional expectations would rule it's ironic.

Competition is dying already :(

[Ded Bob]

As an ex-DirecTV DSL customer, I am seeing it disappear as we speak. The only provider in my area is now SBC. Whether or not the FCC does anything, I see competition as being dead.

BTW, I would love the FCC to get rid of one regulation: the idiotic regulation that requires me to cancel DSL service before I can get another provider to even take an order. The same group comes out to disconnect me as will connect me five days later. I want to see down-times of hours not days nor weeks (if unlucky). How can people try out different competitors easily if they will have to wait so long?

canada shows US the way

[violently_ill]

i just spent two weeks vacationing in snowy canada (i live in california) and while i was there i had the opportunity to learn about canada's internet. in short, it kicks ass. it is very fast, very resilient, very regulated, and most importantly, very cheap. the canadian government has been developing and regulating broadband since before anyone knew what broadband was and their investment has surely paid off. how does digital cable service AND broadband internet for $40/month sound? that's 40 candian dollars, or a little over $30 dollars american currency. not only that, but it's purported to be more resilient than the internet2 project that is just barely getting off the ground in the states. canada's regulated deployment scheme has made it one of the most wired nations in the world. we could learn a lot from them.

Re:canada shows US the way

[fizban]

God damn it! This puts me over the edge. I've been meaning to join our northerly brethren for a while now and I think this just about gives me the final reason to make my promise good. Onward Kanooks! Eh?

Unregulated Capitalism is the EVIL of the world.

Re:canada shows US the way

[TheSync]

Internet2 is not a network for home users, it is a research network to examine what you can do with a very, very fast IPV6 network. It is also incredibly underutilized, and only links universities and research institutions.

Re:canada shows US the way

[tfoss]

Check out this guy.

-Ted

Re:canada shows US the way

[fizban]

Thanks. That was awesome.

but yet....

[/dev/trash]

EchoStar is turned down, when it wants to give me and millions of other people local channels.

I don't want cable, I want DISH.

Bad for Democracy

[bill_mcgonigle]

In this scenario, a sufficiently motivated group could purchase all the media outlets in an area, effectively controlling the flow of information to the populous. Then they could start spreading false information without any balances.

Can you imagine a society where if you spend enough money anybody can get elected?

Oh.

note: satellite/cable and the Internet are moderating forces, but they are not free (federally subsidized), which is why this is a problem.

Re:Bad for Democracy

[TheSync]

In this scenario, a sufficiently motivated group could purchase all the media outlets in an area, effectively controlling the flow of information to the populous....satellite/cable and the Internet are moderating forces, but they are not free (federally subsidized)

In the absence of government regulation, what you say is impossible. However, it may also require state and local governments to end regulation (i.e. forced monopolies) of cable and telephone service as well.

But even today, cable isn't free, yet the majority of Americans receive their television programming over cable.

Even if someone bought up all the AM & FM radio stations in an area, you can still listen to Sirius and XM radio, not to mention shortwave!

Plus the Internet will continue to become a very powerful force for balance. Dial-up is cheaper than cable in most markets (as it should be, it is lower bandwidth).

And there is always public television/radio...

The usual response from the masses

[salesgeek]

In the end, this consolidation will serve only to preserve the media industry and the telecom industry so it can prepare for the coming of age of low frequency ultra wideband radio technology. LF UWB is a carrierless peer-to-peer technology which has the potential to break the last mile barrier. Imagine you little wireless ethernet access point with a 150 mile range. I don't think this will be good for cable companies and the local phone company.

Of course, this all could just be an evil plot.

$G

too vague, no guarantee

[zogger]

--this could be all well and good or just a troll. No way to tell, but I'll bite anyway. The last time I heard something similar was from the cable companies when they were granted all their local monopoly licenses. It was supposed to be "ad free" cable, ie, "no commercials". That lasted about two minutes, tops. And you still can't buy what you want by individual channel, it's always been a take it or leave it "package deal" that no one is ever happy with.

The default "consumer" mindset now (just accept it, it's more or less a general truism) is "we" just plain don't trust any large corporations to ever tell the truth on anything. We DO trust them to cook the books, pay high level executives obscene amounts of money for basically not a lot of "work",to do whatever it takes to avoid paying pensions or shareholders once the stock money is spent, to just constantly run businesses into the hole and declare bankruptcy and skip with the loot then start over again, lie in front of congressional committees, pay bribes to the same guys, establish and endless stream of daisy chained convulted sham/scam off shore "corporations" so they can buy,sell and lease their own stuff back and forth to each other to avoid any taxes and any personal named human responsibility, and to use lawyerese foreign language fine print on any "contracts" with end users that is so small that you need two magnifying glasses to read it.

Besides that sure, if this is true and reasonable, bring me dsl (19.2 dsl? huh?) (sdsl preferrably so I can host) out in this rural area I live in that has some sort of reasonable up stream and downstream, I'll pay double that 10$, even triple, as long as my bandwith is my bandwith,you don't block my ports, and I don't have to pay for "content" that I don't want, that is, don't force me into a "bundling" arrangement for pay per view nonsense. Don't make me pay for a phoneline I never use. Don't tell me that you only "support" one OS when I call to get a connection. Something like that, more power to ya,hope to see it. If there's a lot of "gotchas" in the fine print, ain't interested, will hold out for guerrilla/independent/home made wireless access somehow. If you have a cool breakthrough-great! Even if it starts at 19.2 but can advance within a year, swell, I'll buy it. Not that much slower than I get now on staticy rural phone lines (phone line+inet connect running over 50 clams a month now), and I'd much rather have wireless, that means my projected move to even a "more" rural area won't necessarily jeopardise my inet connection..

We've nearly achieved the socialist paradise!

[Thud457]

1. One corp owns everything
2. Workers buy shares in said corp
3. Workers collect divedends on shares

4. 
   
   and to head off any smart alecs at the pass:
   

5. ????
6. Profit!

This is really bad news

[cdn-programmer]

Prior to the DCMA, the owner of copyrighted materials had the right to duplication and distribution of his/her creations. These rights were subject to the abuse of organisations like the RIAA for instance, but at least the artistic community held the rights until they (often naively) negotiated them away.

With the DMCA, safe harbour provisions were created that transfered the right of distribution away from the creator into the hands of the distributor the moment the creator posted his/her material on the net. In effect the creator of a work lost the right to distribute and duplicate their work - without any negotiation or need for the creator to be compensated.

Thus, a company that owns content (which is presently not made available on the net) would be at a disadvantage because the moment they post it - they would effectivly lose control over distrribution. This ruling by the FCC will fix that. By merging media interests with distribution interests the combined mega corporation controls both the distribution as well as retaining control of their copyrighted materials - IE the problem is fixed.

Collateral damage includes anyone who is not powerful enuf to be a major carrier and/or who does not have a significant amount of internet content - enough to make them attractive enough for a large telecomunications interest to want to climb into bed with them.

Slashdot falls into this category. With no means of negotiating a sweetheart "convergance" contract with a telecommunications carrier, slashdot will get hosed on bandwidth charges. Meanwhile, having lost the "right to copy" their presumably copyrighted materials (DMCA transfers these rights to the carriers) Slashdot is unable to participate in the HUGE revenues that stem from the delivery of same to the consumming public.

What a sad commentary on manipulation of the unfolding cyber world.

This development is NOT in our interest! It certainly should be considered rather draconian by anyone aspiring to make a living utilizing the technologys presently being developed for cyberspace.

This group will include most webmasters, many systems admins, most HTML and CGI programmers and probably most of the flash programmers. The group includes a lot of wanna-be-professional web developers and artists - many of whom are doing brilliant work and may never know why the job offers they were hoping for didn't develop.

If anyone things this is an overestimate of the damages - then consider the number of layoffs in the dot.bomb sector. A good place to read on this is at fucked company

Over at FC, Pud declares that these were just shitty business plans and that any company that does not make a profit will simply go out of business. Ya, Pud is pretty ruthless - might not have a heart.

The point IMHO that Pud is overlooking is that some outfits like Slashdot.org do a RATHER GOOD JOB and they also are feeling a cash squeeze. Perhaps its a bad business plan... but I rather think the issue is having your work taken without compensation and being given no access to a rather HUGE revenue stream that this work helps to create.

Let me ask - if it were not for great websites like Slashdot, why would people like us bother to subscribe to an ISP? We pay our ISP's for access to this material and our ISP's pay their upstreams. Somewhere along the way over to the slashdot servers the money flow stops.

Slashdot is a very popular website - even so they have little market clout in the eyes of upsteams. So little slashdot with little bargaining power is placed in the situtation that they can either pack up their bags and go home - or try to find some way to fund the operation.

Meanwhile, if there are say 100,000 slashdot readers then "we" pay at least $25x100,000 = $2,500,000 per month for our interent access. In my case with the dropping content, I find that the docs over at gnu and a few other open source projects makes it worthwhile for me to have a dedicated connection. In total - slashdot probably represents over 10% of the total internet content I look at. I would be very happy if a percentage of the money I pay each month found itself flowing into the pockets of SlashDot.

But without any distribution clout - that isn't likely to happen.

Meanwhile we should expect that organizations like CNN, TSN, and so forth will find they can make good money distrubuting THEIR content - because THEY will have enough clout to bargan for an inside seat in the distribtution game.

In effect, the rest of us subsidize them because the content they have could NEVER create the net.

Re:This is really bad news

[TheSync]

Nothing is stopping Slashdot from moving from a unicast medium (The Internet) to a broadcast medium (like cable television). But the economics of broadcast mean you need a certain level of audience to support it.

My theory is that there aren't really enough hardcore geeks to support a standard broadcast operation (see TechTV, which many people argue is pretty dumbed down already).

Now don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a Slashdot TV show, and have even looked into doing it...but it doesn't look like it will happen soon.

As for ISP subsidization, on a bit basis, Slashdot represents a really small amount of my Internet use, as a single streaming video would have many more bits than a year's worth of Slashdot.

Slashdot COULD go on a paid subscription basis only, but that would be (probably?) be against the philosophy of the site. Besides, do you really want your ISP asking the Slashdotters to start posting "Backstreet Boys use Linux" just to raise viewership & revenue? AOL probably does that already.

I admire the Slashdotters for holding together a content site this long. I know it has been tough, but that is the media business. They've done a great job!

Sickening

[Anonymous Coward]

Every day it just gets worse. What made the US a great country were freedom, liberty, etc. Profitability was not the primary consideration ( although it was an outcome ). It seems the US has confused the the cause with the outcome and is perfectly willing to sacrifice the premises which led to its greatness. WTF?

I think one of the problems is that the US extends the freedoms of man to corporations. Treating a company like an individual is convenient until you realise that companies don't die - they have no natural limitations.

What can be done?

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LOL

[Tranvisor]

"The Libertarians' flawed belief that a Corporation Can Do No Wrong is what got us into this situation in the first place."

Last time I checked, to actually blame a political party for something, they actually had to have somebody, anybody, in congress. Can you name any?

Re:LOL

[TheSync]

The Libertarians' flawed belief that a Corporation Can Do No Wrong is what got us into this situation in the first place."

I don't see the problem.

I can purchase 100 channels of digital cable television if I wish. I could get another hundred from satellite. I receive about 20 broadcast TV stations, several of which are in high-definition DTV. I can get hundreds of channels of digital satellite radio. I have $40/month DSL with over 600 kbps downlink. I could get 1Mbps cable modem connectivity if I wanted. Some nights, I play first-person-shooters with people all over the country.

I have Internet and a webcam on my cellphone. I canceled my slow CDPD service for 1xRTT. I chose from five different cell carriers. I can ever power up my shortwave and listen to hundreds of stations on there.

I can order all kind of DVDs through Netflix, and never have to go down the street to Blockbuster. There are three new movie theaters in town that specialize in independent and foreing films, all with stadium seating!

Should I get sick of television, I can always make my own and broadcast it on the Net.

Yes, I'm sick of Clear Channel as well, but evidently the majority of listeners like hearing pop...so I'm thinking about going XM. Sorry about change, that's life, but it wasn't like there was a Hindi or techno radio station on FM here anyway! I listen to Shoutcast at home as it is...and did I mention that FM stations will soon have digital sound using iBOC?

I am inundated by far more media than I could ever use. Never in my life have I felt more capable of getting the information I need or want, or being entertained should I need to.

20 years ago I had no cable, DSL, cellphone, digital TV, or Internet access! My media life revolved around a handful of TV networks, a few radio stations, and a few movie studios.

Why all the whining?

Re:LOL

[ONU CS Geek]

Yes, I'm sick of Clear Channel as well, but evidently the majority of listeners like hearing pop...so I'm thinking about going XM. Sorry about change, that's life, but it wasn't like there was a Hindi or techno radio station on FM here anyway! I listen to Shoutcast at home as it is...and did I mention that FM stations will soon have digital sound using iBOC?

Considering that XM's Corporate partner is Clear Channel, do you really think you're going to run too far away? The Talk channle Buzz XM, for example, is nothing more than Clear-Channle Re-Broadcasting. Mike Trevisano from WTAM 1100 (formerly WWWE) in Cleveland, Willie and the Truckin' Bozo from 700 WLW...LA Kiss FM...the whole XM Radio just leaks of Clear Channle repeat content. Don't believe me? Go to to this XM Radio Page and see for yourself.

Re:LOL

[DunbarTheInept]

I didn't say the Libertarians were responsible. I said a particular belief they hold was responsible. This belief also happens to be held by a lot of other people, people who are not Libertarians, and that's how it came to be implemented. But only the Libertarians make this particular belief the primary cornerstone of their platform.

The Libertarians (note the capital L) have about as much to do with liberty as the Democrats have to do with Democracy and the Republicans have to do with keeping the nation a republic.

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Big media - the big tobacco of tomorrow

[jessedl]

A lot has been written about the potential for a technological riff between the 'haves' and 'have nots'. I believe instead this riff will divide the media-addicts and those strong enough to overcome or avoid media-addiction.

The interesting thing about those who read and write to slashdot regarding this story is their tension between media-craving and media-disgust. The majority of respondents, by virtue of reading the site itself, are in some way addicted to news and information. Notably they are loathe to hear of corporate conglomerates taking control, despite the fact that they likely pay $50+ monthly cable bills to these very corporations.

Media companies have exclusively the interest of their consumers in mind whenever they do anything. This is economic law. They give the masses - and we're all part of the masses despite whatever intellectual tricks we use to convince ourselves otherwise - what the masses demand. Substitution of one sub-media for another ("underground" music instead of "popular" music) does not free yourself, ultimately the happy-go-lucky Media Inc. will figure out your shifting preferences and deliver it to you in any form you're willing to pay for. And you WILL be willing to pay for it.

Re:Big media - the big tobacco of tomorrow

[TheSync]

A lot has been written about the potential for a technological riff between the 'haves' and 'have nots'.

Yes, a lot has been written, but even some of the poorest people I know still have a pretty good television, VHS or DVD, and AOL/Internet. The latter might be on a 386 (the going price of which is often "just get it out of my basement").

What is expensive is food & rent! Those are more like $10-$20 per day (unlike $10-$20 per month for Internet).

Re:The joke is on them...

[symbolic]

I RARELY listen to the radio any more, and when I do, it's more often than not a donation-supported station. Of course, there are hordes of unenlightened 'revnodes' out there, able, willing, and ready to lap up whatever major interests like Clear Channel throw their way - kind of like dogs that have been trained to wait for table scraps while their human owners feast on an expensive dinner.

I love this quote

[kindbud]

"The most important thing the Powell commission will do is eliminate all the rules that proactively prevent telecommunications and media companies from entering new lines of business," said Blair Levin, an FCC official in the Clinton administration who now analyzes regulatory policy for the investment firm Legg Mason Wood Johnny Walker Red Label Solomon Smith Barney Dreyfuss Merrill Lynch Wal-Mart Inc.

"We are clearly going to have a lot of consolidation. The question is, is the nature of technology such that we can still get the vibrant competition that you would want?"

Ok, so I exaggerated the name of the guy's paycheck-writer a little bit. But I thought it was funny that this guy was talking about massive consolidation with a business card that reads like his does. :)

$40 for cable and internet??

[SparkyMartin]

I think you drank too much beer when you were up here. Please tell me where in Canada you can get cable TV AND Internet for $40 Canadian! I live in Ontario and I pay $40 for broadband cable, $40 for cable TV, and another $20 for digital cable. That's $100 not $40. The cheapest internet/digital package I can get is $80. I looked at the prices in Calgary and the prices are similar. (and yes I know that's still cheap compared to most parts of the world-i'm not complaining, I'm commenting)

You are correct about the investment in infrasturcture. Places out west offered adsl in the early 90's when most ppl had slip accounts, and most ppl didn't even hear about the internet. Saskatchewan upgraded a huge chunk of its' copper wire to fiberoptics in the 80's in order to bring data communications to rural communities! How's that for foresight? One thing I notice is that there is a big difference between western canada and eastern canada. Western Canada is quick to adopt new technologies and innovations, while Eastern Canada has old school thinking-if it aint't broke don't fix it. For example, in Quebec many pay phones are still rotary.

In case you want to keep up with the mergers

[FlyingElvi]

A good little place to keep up with the mergers and conglomerations in the media world is at Who Owns What.

The Columbia Journalism Review keeps good tabs on such things.

A Perhaps Relevant Quote

[ewhac]

The following is from the 1976 movie Network, a great film that stills bears watching to this day. Mr. Jensen, chairman of the network, is angrily lecturing Howard Beale, an insane news anchorman whose exhortation to viewers blocked an important business deal (quotes taken from IMDB):

"YOU HAVE MEDDLED WITH THE PRIMAL FORCES OF NATURE, MR. BEALE, AND I... WON'T... HAVE IT! IS THAT CLEAR?

"You think you've merely stopped a business deal? That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity. It is ecological balance. You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians! There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds! There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems; one vast, interwoven, interacting, multivaried, multinational dominion of dollars! It is the international system of currency which determines the vitality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature! AND YOU! WILL! ATONE!! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little 21 inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.

"The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. Our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality -- one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock -- all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel."

"Why me?"

"Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday."

"I have seen the face of God."

"You just might be right, Mr. Beale."

The film is packed full of other great scenes and quotes. (Check out the scene where the network is negotiating next year's distribution deal for footage shot by a domestic terrorist group.) It's an excellent, prescient, and somewhat bleak film. Go hunt it down and rent it. You shan't be disappointed.

Schwab

Unfounded Hate and Fear isn't so bad...

[JohnDenver]

It's the propigation of unchecked stupidity, non-scientific speculation, and mis-information that really gets me.

In situations like this, you don't need to make your opponent look like an idiot, and yell in ALL CAPS WITH A GREAT SENSE OF URGENCY for people to get the point.

Instead, constrast HIS GREAT SENSE OF URGENCY, with logic. Your goal is to vindicate the reader's suspicians that your foe is stupid. ...but don't stop there. Follow it up with a very brief, poignantly resonate explaination of your foe's delusions.

The goal is to turn your foes opinion into an example of what NOT to do, while subtiley pushing logic and reason.

Re:The joke is on them...

[symbolic]

Without a doubt.

Re:Insightful? Give me a break...

[DunbarTheInept]

I've read it. It doesn't change the fact that in *practice* the Libertarians (notice the capital L. I'm talking about the party here) favor corporations in legal battles regardless of the facts. Take Microsoft for example. The party's stance is that MS never did anything wrong.

I love the fox/henhouse metaphor.

[Hentai]

The situation with deregulation in this country has put the foxes in charge of hen house.

So, you're suggesting that being slaughtered for food (snap metaphor: exploited without your consent) by the farmer (snap metaphor: government) is better than being slaughtered for food (snap metaphor: exploited without your consent) by the fox?

Think about this metaphor, especially whenever it gets used to describe the government, corporations, and the public: You aren't the farmer; you're the hen. YOU'RE SCREWED EITHER WAY. Either the government cooks you over a slow-roast fire, or the corporations rend you limb from limb. You have no power to protect yourself; once, a long time ago, you might have had the opportunity to choose to leave the henhouse and risk death at the hands of the foxes in exchange for freedom from the farmer's axe. But now, even that decision is taken from you - you will be a slave to whoever they tell you to be a slave to, and you will learn to like it. Your only choice is to decide which of our 250 all-digital channels will teach you how to like it, and how to properly show your appreciation.

A boot stepping on a human face forever, indeed.

Re:I love the fox/henhouse metaphor.

[Qrlx]

Hentai, you have a point but I don't agree with it completely. There is a vast difference between getting screwed by Big Government and getting screwed by Big Business.

Some utilities, like the phone company, deal in sick amounts of money. On the order of a billion dollars a week in revenues. (Not sure of the exact number)

Put that much money in the hands of a government office, and they will bloat out and become horribly inefficient. You'll pay too much for your services, and libertarians will whine that the private sector would be sooo much more efficient.

What the libertarians overlook is the incredible temptation of huge, huge sums of money. I cannot say that I wouldn't do the same things as those Enron scumbags were I in their place, and had the chance to get away with it (as they pretty much have done so far.)

So while you're "screwed either way" there is definitely a great difference in the severity with which you will be screwed. As everybody on the West Coast found out.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'd rather have the Farmer in charge of the hen house rather than the Fox -- The Farmer, if he has a brain, won't kill all the hens at once because he needs them to make more hens. The Fox will go nuts, taking whatever he wants without any sort of a long-term vision thing guiding his efforts. The fox will rape and pillage with reckless abandon, since he knows The Farmer will tax the hens to pay for rebuilding the henhouse after it's turned in into a meth lab. The Farmer's vision might be misguided at times, but at least he sees us chickens as a tiny bit more than raw materials for his profit-making pleasure-taking machine.

Don't get me wrong, I recognize that the role of government is to provide a stable and functional enough societal framework to let the entrepreneurs play. In that sense the government's business is pimping its own people out to the capitalists. But there's a huge difference between the mission statement and the mindset of your public utility that provides your drinking water (a basic service that should be available to all) and a private coporation that provides your drinking water (a valuable product and if you can't afford it too bad).

Here's a question:

[Chris Burke]

So assume that a grass-roots public internet arises based on wireless tech. Assume the Powers That Be don't like being circumvented, but they haven't managed to make this internet illegal. Okay, now for the question.

How do you design the protocols (routing, but possibly IP as well) to take into account not only unreliable nodes, but outright hostile ones? Nodes that would do all they could to look legitimate, but that would not actually forward any traffic (it might, for example, send responses that appear to be from the destination host, but contain garbage payloads).

It sounds like a tough problem to me, and one that such a network may have to face.

IN SOVIET RUSSIA we only have 2 ISP...

[MillionthMonkey]

ISP 1 is no good, places needlessly restrictive filters on all your traffic.
ISP 2 routes all your packets through ISP 1!

Where do you sign up?

[alizard]

The nearest public mental health clinic. If you believe this, you probably need to be... separated from the rest of us for a while until you've gotten the professional help you need. Go now, while you've still got a choice in the matter.

you want to see who bought who?

[alizard]

Try OpenSecrets. Political donation - politician database, includes PACs and party committees.

If the geek community had something serious enough to be listed there, we could afford to be a lot calmer about this situation. The geeks never even made a serious attempt to buy Congress.

He may be trying to save my ass, but...

[Infonaut]

I'm not shooting the messenger at all. Just because he's "trying to save my ass" doesn't mean I should read his works uncritically, does it? Uncritical acceptance is the very thing he rails against.

Nation's academics need to get *relevant*

[Infonaut]

Much of the reason social science academics aren't taken more seriously is that an overwhelming number of them seem to be mired in the Marxist dogma that they were first exposed to in their undergraduate days.

Go to most universities across the United States, and you'll find a class of individuals who are very much outside the mainstream of American thought. This doesn't mean that their views are unimportant, but it does mean that in order for their views to be heard, they need to frame their arguments in a way that the average American will grok, rather than in post-modernist lingo or Marxist rhetoric.

I also take issue with the statement that academics have "little to no regard for anything outside the subject." That's pure bullshit. Anyone who has ever worked at a university will tell you that internal departmental politics plays a *huge* role in what gets published and who gets listened to in academia.

It's also important to note that academics are exceedingly good at analyzing and critiquing the actions of others, but do not have to make decisions of any consequence themselves. There's a huge difference between sharpshooting from the shadows, and taking responsbility for an actual *plan* to do something. The American public understands this. One of my issues with Chomsky is just that - it's easy for him to knock away at The System, but anyone can do that, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. When he starts offering truly considered and coherent plans to affect some real change, then his rants will morph into something of actual utility.

Academia has a lot to offer in the current American poltical and societal reality, but it has always been and may always be an elitist environment more interested in learning for the sake of learning and self-congratulation, rather than in the effective dissemination of ideas to the wider population. Until that changes, don't expect Joe Ford to start watching televised MIT debates on the TV every night.