Slashdot Mirror
John McCain Working On Legislation For 'a La Carte' TV Channel Packages
An anonymous reader writes "John McCain, Republican Senator for Arizona and former U.S. presidential candidate, is drafting a new bill that would pressure TV providers to allow customers to select and pay for only the channels they want to watch. The bill will also 'bar TV networks from bundling their broadcast stations with cable channels they own during negotiations with the cable companies, according to industry sources. So for example, the Disney Company, which owns both ABC and ESPN, could not force a cable provider to pay for ESPN in order to carry ABC.' Perhaps most importantly, the bill could 'end the sports blackout rule, which prohibits cable companies from carrying a sports event if the game is blacked out on local broadcast television stations.' This would hamstring the ludicrous practice of blacking out TV broadcasts in order to drive fans to buy actual tickets to a game. The cable and satellite TV industry is expected to push back very strongly against the bill."
I've always been mildly surprised that no one has argued that channel bundling violates Section 3 of the Clayton Antitrust Act. Basically the networks and cable companies are engaged in tying which can in some circumstances be illegal. While it may be legal in this case it seems to exist right on the edge of legality. I've never been convinced of the argument that channel bundling is in the best interest of the consumers and it certainly is only possible due to the market power of the companies involved.
There's another reason McCain is behind this: A la carte cable is a very popular idea with the social conservative faction that holds a lot of influence within the republican party. The FRC has frequently put out a public call for something like this. Their motivation is in obscenity and indecency: They really don't like the idea that good christian conservatives have to pay for the raunchy entertainment and liberal media channels because they happen to be in the same bundle as the Disney channel and Fox news.
Right on. JM is a lame duck, though he probably doesn't yet know it.
He's taking to avoiding the true conservative constituents, however, which is a good plan. He may as well spend the next 3 years in peace and solitude. No point in getting all riled up.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
...and if Hillary Clinton won against Obama in the 2008 primaries instead, would you have said the same thing? After all, that one was fairly close for the longest time, and she would have been Clinton II administration-wise if she had won the job (and if it weren't for her husband's by-then-tarnished reputation, I daresay she would have won the primaries hands-down.)
Fact is, both parties do the derp factor - big-time. It's even a mainstream formula - you pander to the hard portion of your party during the primaries, then swing back and do your best to pander to everyone else after you get the nomination. If you don't do that, you don't win the primaries.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Here's the difference between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin:
Joe Biden sometimes says stupid things. He also says smart and effective things. He also corrects himself when he realizes that what he said was stupid. Generally speaking, the smart things outweigh the stupid things, so he is viewed as a basically smart guy who sometimes goofs up and says something stupid.
Sarah Palin, on the other hand, says many many things that aren't only stupid, but indicative of an underlying idiocy well beyond just making mistakes. For instance, the question that really did her in back in 2008 was Katie Couric asking "And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this [the vice-presidency] - to stay informed and to understand the world?" Sarah Palin couldn't come up with a straight answer, while Biden would probably have cited Foreign Policy, the New York Times, or the Delaware News Journal.
I am officially gone from
I can't speak for anybody else, but I watched a bunch of educational programming when I was a kid. Yes, Sesame Street--but also Mr. Rogers, the Electric Company, and Square One spring immediately to mind. Oh, and I bet I could still whistle the theme to "Voyage of the Mimi." Maybe I'm not typical, but I think all of those shows were pretty valuable. Given the choice, I would probably STILL watch half an hour of Square One over half an hour of Survivor's Next Top Idol.