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FCC Delays Vote On Cable TV Regulation

Posted by kdawson on from the scrambling-to-save-face dept.

Tech.Luver recommends a story unfolding at the FCC, where Chairman Kevin Martin delayed a vote on a report that would open the door to more agency control over the cable television industry. Analysts say that Martin lacked support to pass the measure. The delayed vote was on a draft report, backed by Martin, that found that cable companies control enough of the pay-TV market to warrant more oversight under the so-called "70/70" rule — 70% of US households passed by cable and 70% of those with access to cable service subscribing to it. The cable industry disputed the figures in the report, and Martin's two fellow Republican commission members also expressed doubts.

3 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. This isn't (yet) about censorship. by ZombieRoboNinja · · Score: 5, Interesting

    TFA is light on details, but it seems the proposal that was withdrawn was something about requiring cable companies to play material from minority-owned small businesses on the "excess channels" they don't use. Still questionable, but not "OMG the FCC wants to censor my cable TV!"

    And BTW, the "fuck the FCC" people might want to consider that the fight here is between the FCC and CABLE COMPANIES about stuff like whether they should be required to provide a la carte channel options. Stuff that the cable companies may not want, but which doesn't seem to have a whole lot of bearing on free-speech issues. If you want to argue that a government bureaucracy is worse than a corporate oligarchy, that's a fair stance, but having both filed federal taxes and tried to get a decent internet plan from Comcast, I'm ambivalent.

  2. Re:70/70 by ZombieRoboNinja · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually, according to the cable industry, 58% of TV households have basic cable.

    http://www.ncta.com/ContentView.aspx?contentId=54

    Those statistics also say that there are 122,500,000 homes "passed by cable" out of 112,00,000 homes with television... so apparently cable is available to 109% of households, which I'd say is pretty impressive.

  3. Re:Fuck the FCC by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why does the FCC get to censor the airwaves?
    Because they are the government agency that was granted this power by the legislative branch, which was granted its power by you.

    Can police arrest me for saying "Fuck" in a public place?
    Depending on where you are, yes they can. State and local decency laws exist in many areas making swearing an actual crime, although generally they would fine you rather than taking you to jail.

    What part about Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech is so hard to understand?
    Weaselly loophole here. The decency standards are more under the control of the FCC, not Congress itself, so Congress has not actually not made any laws abridging freedom of speech, the FCC did. Also note that freedoms stop when they interfere with others' rights.