[opendtv] Re: Channel approval process
- From: "John Golitsis" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 11:29:09 -0400
I loved Street Legal!
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 7:24 PM
Subject: [opendtv] Re: Channel approval process
> And, because I DO UNDERSTAND this -- I've followed the topic for more than 3
> decades and counting -- does make it right. Have you been following the
> topic since 1972? (Anybody who follows the topic knows that was the hot year
> for the topic, when cable issues were 'non-decided.')
>
> Why would you think that local into local even addresses any constitutional
> issue? Me, I see contracts, affiliation contracts, that are actually
> honored (honoured) by local into local. The First Amendment says in
> pertinent part that Congress shall not make any law abridging freedom of the
> press. (Copyrights are covered in the Constitution itself.)
>
> That doesn't mean that ALL information is free, or that the First Amendment
> trumps all contracts, or that parties between themselves cannot decide to
> establish exclusive rights and defined territories for those rights. Nor
> does the first amendment mean that one state can decide to make driver's
> license information private, while others consider it to be public
> information.
>
> Nor, does it mean that the FCC cannot decide that certain contracts are
> anti-competitive, or limit the ability of the FCC to redefine market
> boundaries, or decide that whatever the contract says, the "exclusive area"
> of an affiliation agreement does not extend to the market boundaries but is
> limited to a 35 mile radius circle from the transmitter location.
>
> There are situations where there are two or more stations affiliated to the
> same network within the same market. The market that contains York, PA used
> to have 4 CBS affiliates, 4 ABC affiliates and 3 NBC affiliates. Mostly,
> this was because of market consolidation by the FCC.
>
> These subjects are complex for the uninitiated to understand. I started my
> initiation in September of 1972.
>
> There is an upshot from this that I benefit from. There are no North
> American agreements that limit the ability of a cable system in one country
> to carry the local TV stations of another country. And, there are
> international agreements that serve to prevent one country from jamming the
> stations of another country.
>
> I COULD go on about this forever. Since you're on defense and ONLY have the
> Canadian perspective -- mostly gleaned from folklore and from press sources
> (at whose behest this situation was created (See: McLean's/CBC/etc.) I
> suspect that you would run out of live ammunition first.
>
> Also, I admire some Canadian content, unlike many Americans. When I was
> running my LPTV station, we were the only station in the U.S. to carry
> "Street Legal", the Canadian equivalent of "L.A. Law." The first few
> seasons (when it was an early evening CBC show were almost dreadful, but
> once it went prime Time, in some cases LA Law copied Street Legal plot
> lines. I even had a CBC sales rep. Heck, I still have a "Street Legal"
> crew jacket. (The male lead in the CBS show "JAG" first came to "fame" as
> the male love interest of one of the characters on Street Legal. Funny
> seeing him in a US Navy officer's uniform.) In the same era, I also thought
> "Material World" was a fairly good show.
>
> Under the first amendment, individual and parties can decide to limit the
> extent of their speech. Nothing new there. However, the government is not
> so empowered.
>
> How was local into local a limiting of anything? It created a service where
> none existed before. While respecting, for the most part, contractual
> rights.
>
> John Willkie
>
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