[opendtv] Re: News: GOP Wins Mean Continued Key Clout
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 10:06:36 -0400
At 5:52 PM -0500 11/5/04, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
>In terms of ending the DTT transition early, it seems
>the Republican-controlled FCC is in favor. But it's
>unclear to me that a Democrat-controlled FCC would
>oppose this. At most, the Democratic commissioners
>would make a bigger deal about govt-funded STBs for
>the needy. (I'd be curious whether in Berlin this
>govt support to consumers turned out to be real or
>mostly just for show.)
This is irrelevant. Congress holds all of the cards in this battle.
If ANY FCC does something to piss off major constituencies, Congress
will step in and change the rules.
No matter what happens with the Ferree Plan, Congress will have the alst laugh.
>
>The Dems would probably oppose any increase in the
>national cap on OTA broadcast facilities, but as
>far as I'm concerned, there's precious little to
>say for the low national cap. It really only
>restricts the size of station goups like Sinclair.
>It does not by itself create more voices in TV
>markets, nor does it restrict the size of the major
>media network conglomerates. So what's the point?
>Political grandstanding?
You continue to demonstrate your lack of understanding of the issues
here by citing Sinclair as the type of organization that will benefit
from consolidation.
Andswer this simple question Bert.
Where would Sinclair be today if it had to come up with all of the
content to fill the schedules of all of those stations?
Why is it that Sinclair affiliates virtually ALL of its stations with
a major broadcast network? And why is it that those networks are the
ones who would like to buy Sinclair and the rest of their affiliates?
>
>All in all, what's the difference?
The point of posting this story was to raise the question of what's
going to happen next? It is already clear that there will be yet
another re-write of the Communications act prior to the 2006
election. That is the important takeaway here. The ability to play
competitors off one another to finance billion dollar campaigns is
the great American way!
Regards
Craig
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