The quote below from the Washington Post's article is the crux of the dilemma. Given the technological changes and the fact that, in aggregate, more people watch cable TV than on-air broadcasting. The present FCC authority can be viewed as unfair. The reality is that free (to consumers) on-air TV broadcasting is dying a certain death because of the rise of alternative technologies. In the long term, the TV broadcast frequencies may be far more valuable for interactive communications given the explosion of wireless, always-on services and devices.
The indecency conundrum will be a very difficult one to resolve and will require Congressional, not only judicial action, because indecency is a 'moral values' political issue and the people will want to be heard. Stay tuned.
"The FCC's rules cover over-the-air television and radio broadcasts but not programming that is transmitted via cable or satellite networks, based on the notion that the broadcasts depend on the public airwaves while customers chose to subscribe to cable or satellite services. The same is true of radio: Pay satellite radio networks XM and Sirius are exempt from federal decency standards that their free, over-the-air AM and FM rivals must obey."
No comments:
Post a Comment