{"id":42,"date":"2003-05-30T11:27:54","date_gmt":"2003-05-30T11:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/2003\/05\/30\/030500fcc\/"},"modified":"2023-08-13T18:27:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T18:27:18","slug":"030500fcc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/2003\/05\/30\/030500fcc\/","title":{"rendered":"Impending FCC Cross-Ownership Ruling&#13;\n&#13;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\"><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/images\/smalllogo.jpg\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\"\/><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>               \u00a0                              <\/p>\n<p align=\"right\">                                         Quick                      Jump Menu to this Month&#8217;s Articles                     Fiber                      to the Home &#8211; Finally                     TV                      Internet &#8211; A Real World Review                     FCC&#8217;s                      Impending Cross-Ownership Ruling                     Mouse                      Ears or Rabbit Ears                     Call                      for Papers                                      <strong>May, 2003<\/strong>                  <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\"><b><b><a name=\"conf\"\/>Impending            Cross-Ownership Ruling<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\">by            <a href=\"mailto:ken.pyle@viodi.com\">Ken Pyle<\/a><\/p>\n<p>       \u00a0                   <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\">Next week\u2019s impending            ruling by the FCC could have the most <strong>significant impact<\/strong>            on telecommunications, especially with regards to interactive television,            since the 1996 deregulation act. The FCC will vote on whether to loosen            restrictions on the maximum number and type of media outlets that a            particular entity may own in local and national markets. Although this            is a somewhat controversial issue and it is purported to be the most            commented on issue in FCC history, it has not been front page news.<\/p>\n<p>The origination of these rules dates to <strong>thirties<\/strong>,            when lawmakers feared monopolization of media in local markets. Over            the years, the rules have been modified to reflect the introduction            of new technologies and the proliferation of new media outlets, such            as cable television systems. The rules limit ownership in three different            categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The number of outlets of the same type of media in a local market.<\/li>\n<li> The number of different types of media outlets that a particular              entity may own in a particular market.<\/li>\n<li> National restrictions on the number of broadcast stations that              a network may own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Michael K. Powell<\/strong>, Chairman of the FCC, is leading            the charge to change the rules. There are several arguments for changing            the rules including that they are not justified by the law and that            they don\u2019t accurately reflect the multiple ways that media can            be distributed with current or future technology. <\/p>\n<p>Opponents of next week\u2019s rule changes include FCC commissioners            <strong>Jonathan S. Adelstein<\/strong> and <strong>Michael J. Copps<\/strong>            who have arguments with both the process for how the rules are being            changed, as well as the actual rules. Jonathan Adelstein, in a May 21st            broadcast on the Pacifica Radio Network, expressed concern that rule            changes could lead to a \u201cMcDonaldization of all kinds of media.\u201d          <\/p>\n<p>Adelstein and Copps both expressed concern that the rules could effectively            crush local outlets and would advance monopolization of the media. They            see scant coverage of this issue by the major media and are concerned            that this is evidence that the large media outlets will not report news            items that are detrimental to their corporate interests. Their concern            is that the proposed rule changes will lead to further media consolidation            and more instants where \u201cnews\u201d is not reported. <\/p>\n<p>On that same Pacifica Radio Program, <strong>Professsor Vu of Vanderbilt<\/strong>            suggested that increased media cross-ownership at the local level can            actually save local media. He gave an example of how local media can            share news gathering resources such that both outlets become viable            in a smaller market, whereas if they stood alone they would wither because            the costs would be too great. <\/p>\n<p>This upcoming ruling presents an interesting philosophical and practical            problem as to how to determine the proper level of government involvement            in a private market. Throw in the fact that the FCC does have stewardship            of the airwaves and this becomes a controversial issue. It is definitely            of interest to independent telcos as they are seeing the impact of consolidation            among programmers through programming tie-ins and increased costs. <strong>Regulating            in a equitable manner is difficult<\/strong>, however, given the existing            rules are quickly being passed over by technological advances [see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/030500\/030500mouse.htm\">Are            those Mouse Ears or Rabbit Ears?<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>So stay tuned for next week\u2019s ruling. You can literally stay            tuned by going to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/realaudio\">http:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/realaudio<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\" style=\"margin-left:81.0pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/030500\/030500mouse.htm\">Next            Article <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\" style=\"margin-left:81.0pt\"><a href=\"#top\">Back to            Top<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\" style=\"margin-left:81.0pt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/030500\/030500overview.htm\">Back            to Main Page <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoBodyText\" style=\"margin-left:81.0pt\">Copyright 2003 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/\">Viodi,            LLC<\/a>. All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n<p>       \u00a0                   <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"javascript:\" onclick=\"MM_openBrWindow('http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/schult\/images\/booth.jpg','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=730,height=500')\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/030500\/schultoverview.gif\" width=\"131\" height=\"87\" border=\"0\"\/><br \/>           Click Here for Theatrical-Style Poster Frames<\/a>         <\/p>\n<p>                  \u00a0                 \u00a0       \u00a0          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Quick Jump Menu to this Month&#8217;s Articles Fiber to the Home &#8211; Finally TV Internet &#8211; A Real World Review FCC&#8217;s Impending Cross-Ownership Ruling Mouse Ears or Rabbit Ears Call for Papers May, 2003 Impending Cross-Ownership Ruling by Ken Pyle \u00a0 Next week\u2019s impending ruling by the FCC could have the most significant impact [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":712,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}