[opendtv] News: Always dance with those who brung you
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 11:05:33 -0500
Here's another B&C article that says volumes about the cozy
relationship between broadcasters and the politicians who rely upon
them to stay in power.
At least House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton
acknowledges who helped him get to the dance:
Barton said that, as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Commiteee,
he now takes "with a grain of salt" meetings with the heads of
networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN," but that he still
remembers when the heads of stations like channel 3 in Byran, Tex.,
or WFAA Dallas, or KXAS Fort Worth wanted to get to know him when he
was a junior member of the minority party who controlled only one
vote, "and even that was debatable."
"Always dance with those who brung you," he said, "and you all bring
me way back when."
And there's another tidbit in the story that is very interesting;
this one is about you Bert!
Barton would have been buoyed by a new FCC study on possible DTV
transition scenarios released Tuesday. It suggests that in only about
4.5% of analog-only TV homes is "lack of funds" the reason that they
don't subscribe to cable or satellite.
I'll need to find and read the FCC report, but it suggests what I
have been saying for years...there is a sizable percentage of homes
in the U.S. that just don't do TV.
Regards
Craig
Barton Claims Votes for DTV Hard Date
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/1/2005 2:14:00 PM
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe
Barton (R-Texas) told broadcasters he has the votes in the house to
set a hard date for the transition to digital broadcasting, which he
wants to be Dec. 31, 2006.
Though he conceded that was not what they wanted to hear, he told the
group, assembled in Washington by the National Association of
Broadcasters for a meet-and-greet with legislators, that it would not
be good public policy to extend the soft date, in which 85% of the TV
households in each market must be capable of receiving a digital
signal before the stations in that market are required to turn off
their analog signals.
"It would be bad public policy to extend that soft date," he said,
arguing that the transition needed the certainty of a hard date
because first responders needed some of that analog spectrum, the
government treasury needed the money from auctions of some more of
that spectrum, and so that his local TV dealer would be discouraged
from continuing to pitch analog sets.
He said the bill would include a provision for getting converter
boxes to poorer families, and joked that there would also be a
carve-out for the new 30-inch analog set he had bought from a
salesman in Texas who assured him that Congress wasn't planning to do
anything about DTV.
Barton would have been buoyed by a new FCC study on possible DTV
transition scenarios released Tuesday. It suggests that in only about
about 4.5% of analog-only TV homes is "lack of funds" the reason that
they don't subscribe to cable or satellite.
Broadcasters heard some encouraging words from Barton, too.
He said he opposes reimposition of the fairness doctrine, saying
"nothing could be more detrimental to debate," and that it would be
more likely to stifle rather than encourage such debate. "I don't see
that [fairness doctrine] happening on Energy and Commerce."
The doctrine required broadcasters to provide opposing viewpoints on
controversial issues. The FCC dropped it in 1997, paving the way for
the, primarily conservative, talk radio revolution.
Barton also said that, along with realtors, broadcasters are the best
at getting to know their legislators on the local level. NAB "deals
from the top of the deck," he said.
Barton said that , as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Commiteee,
he now takes "with a grain of salt" meetings with the heads of
networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN," but that he still
remembers when the heads of stations like channel 3 in Byran, Tex.,
or WFAA Dallas, or KXAS Fort Worth wanted to get to know him when he
was a junior member of the minority party who controlled only one
vote, "and even that was debatable."
"Always dance with those who brung you," he said, "and you all bring
me way back when."
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