[opendtv] Re: News: Fox Says Mandated PSAs Would Be Illegal
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:57:42 -0800
There's a bit of prospecting going on, "NBC Weather+", "TheTube" and that
new retro network, and efforts by individual stations, like the "RawNews"
subchannel on KNBC4LA, but we're still in the new adopter stage. There is
also interest in ACAP/OCAP data broadcasting as the next big thing.
Carriage of the full transport stream by cable is also an issue. It looks
like Alaska and Hawaii DTV stations get carriage of all their a/v
subchannels via DBS (thanks to legislation.)
John Willkie
-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Steve Wilson
Enviado el: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 8:40 AM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: News: Fox Says Mandated PSAs Would Be Illegal
I suppose Fox is just trying to get some compensation. So much for
public service.
What I dont get is why the broadcasters arent out there trying to get
new customers given their new-found bandwidth. They seem to be all over
mobile broadcast, but when it comes to DTV - you just get blank stares
and shrugged shoulders.
Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
> I'm sure the Fox position makes sense to broadcasters. No one wants
> government mandates shoved down his throat.
>
> But it sure makes no sense to me. It's no mystery that TV broadcasters
> (and retailers and equipment vendors) have kept the DTV transition as
> hidden from the public as they have been given latitude to do, for the
> past 10 years, just about.
>
> Bob Miller said, "One Percent of US households receive HD via OTA DTV
> after ten years of trying." Trying? Trying how?
>
> As far as I can tell, the only way a consumer wanting to buy into HDTV
> would ever consider the OTA pipe as the source of HD content is if this
> consumer is ambitious enough to have done his own homework. The same
> holds for DTT in general.
>
> If the Congress and the FCC had not mandated a date certain for the end
> of the transition, and had not mandated TV labeling in stores, I am
> absolutely positive that the buying public would be totally in the dark
> about any of this.
>
> To a non-broadcaster, the Fox position sounds very disingenuous.
>
> Bert
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/12/2007 2:33:00 AM
>
> While broadcasters have argued generally against FCC mandates for DTV
> education public service announcements, Fox has weighed in strongly
> against them, calling them unnecessary, beyond the FCC's authority and
> an infringement on free speech.
>
> Since broadcasters have already launched a PSA campaign as part of a
> multi-pronged education effort, the push back on FCC Chairman Kevin
> Martin's proposal for some mandatory schedule of the spots and general
> reporting requirements has received fairly gentle opposition.
>
> But in a comments to the FCC last week as part of its inquiry into the
> mandates, Fox ramped up the opposition.
>
> First, said Fox counsel Clark Wadlow, the mandates are unnecessary in
> light of voluntary efforts. For example, he said, between Oct. 22 and
> Oct. 31, the network had aired five PSA's in prime time, and that its
> owned and operated stations had aired hundreds more.
>
> Second, said Fox, the FCC can't use its general regulatory authority to
> justify dictating broadcast program content. And third, compelled speech
> would be unconstitutional. Quoting the case of Hurley Vs Irish-America
> Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Group of Boston, Fox said said "[T]he
> fundamental rule of protection under the First Amendment is that a
> speaker has the autonomy to choose the content of his own message."
>
> If the government wants to spur the educational effort beyond
> broadcasters' voluntary campaign, said Fox, "it is of course free to
> adopt its own public education campaign, or to purchase spots on local
> broadcast and cable channels."
>
> Echoing arguments cable has made against multicast must-carry, Fox also
> said that compelled PSA's would implicate the takings clause since the
> government would be compelling broadcasters to deliver a government
> message that it would otherwise have to pay millions for.
>
>
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