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Bill Would Give FCC Cable Content Control
Broadcasting and Cable ^ | John Eggerton

Posted on 07/31/2006 5:39:33 AM PDT by AT7Saluki

As promised, Republican Tom Osborne (R-Neb.) and Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) Thursday introduced bill that would give cable a "column A,B,C," choice of content regulation.

The bill is billed as the Family Choice act, the preferred term for a la carte cable with groups like Parents Television Council, which backs the legislation and touted it to the press on Wednesday.

...

Multichannel video providers--cable, satellite, telcos--would be required to abide by FCC indecency standards that that currently don't apply to them, or they would have to scramble any channel, without charge, a subscriber doesn't want, except channels that have to be on, like public access and TV STATIONS LOCAL SIGNALS;

(Excerpt) Read more at broadcastingcable.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 109th; cable; content; fcc; govwatch; ptc
Again, has anyone been watching commercials during BROADCAST programming not to mention BROADCAST programming itself?! To quote an old Rush-ism, "Symbolism over substance."
1 posted on 07/31/2006 5:39:35 AM PDT by AT7Saluki
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To: AT7Saluki

Bad idea! Cable can not "sneak" into your house like over-the-air broadcast.


2 posted on 07/31/2006 5:47:58 AM PDT by Niteranger68 (I gigged your peace frog.)
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To: AT7Saluki
Multichannel video providers--cable, satellite, telcos--would be required to abide by FCC indecency standards that that currently don't apply to them,

The FCC needs to keep its nose out of this one. Cable is a subscription service and does not use the public domain (i.e. a section of the electromagnetic spectrum for broadcast). The customer should be aware of the content being subscribed to so they have the choice to decide if they want to recieve material they may consider offensive. Will the FCC next go after Blockbuster of movie theaters since these are also outside the public domain? Or Netflix becasue that is a DVD subscription service?

3 posted on 07/31/2006 5:48:45 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: doc30

The FCC will do what ever it is allowed to do........

The problem here is with these to congressmen and any other who would vote for such an infringement


4 posted on 07/31/2006 5:51:43 AM PDT by WhiteGuy (It's about the People Who Count the Votes................. - Wally O'Dell)
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To: AT7Saluki

Once important line in the article: "That said, such a bill has little chance of passage. An a la carte amendment to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee video franchise reform bill was soundly defeated (20 to 2, with the two being the co-sponsors)." This looks more like election year pandering than anything substantial.


5 posted on 07/31/2006 5:51:52 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: doc30

So they killed the a la carte initiative? Bummer. I'm being extorted on a monthly basis.


6 posted on 07/31/2006 6:04:48 AM PDT by thegreatbeast
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To: AT7Saluki
would have to scramble any channel

That would effectively force consumers who currently subscribe only to the analog cable feeds (basic expanded/extended cable) into digital feeds -- at more cost to the consumer for the digital control box and connection.

Unintended consequence or another way to force digital?
7 posted on 07/31/2006 6:13:12 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: thegreatbeast
So they killed the a la carte initiative? Bummer. I'm being extorted on a monthly basis.

Agree. I have analog extended/expanded basic. But, if the ala carte did pass, it would force subscribers into digital -- for an additional fee for the connection and box -- because that is the only way the cable company can effectively provide ala carte feeds.

I tried the digital when I got cable 3 years ago. It was ok, but after the 'trial service' they added 2 mandatory tiers and dropped most of the movie feeds. Of those 2 mandatory tiers (additional $10 per month), I found 1 (one) channel that I would ever watch.

When I dropped the digital service, my cable/internet dropped from $110 per month to $85 per month.
8 posted on 07/31/2006 6:20:44 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: AT7Saluki

When they say 'scramble a channel without charge', does that mean that I don't have to pay for MTV if I don't want it, or do they scramble it but I still have to pay for it? But the so-called 'family tier' option is their 'out'. All they have to do is make a family tier that excludes the channels people want, and no one will pick it, but they fulfill the requirement. I see the cable lobby has already gotten to this bill and de fanged it. We need true cable choice, with cable competition, and the opportunity to pick and choose the channels we want, and not pay for channels we don't, with groups that make sense, like a 'sports' group, a 'kids programming' group, a 'movies' group, and a learning/science/history 'group.


9 posted on 07/31/2006 6:28:21 AM PDT by sportutegrl (A person is a person, no matter how small. (Dr. Seuss))
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To: AT7Saluki

I couldn't care less.


10 posted on 07/31/2006 6:29:25 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
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To: doc30
The customer should be aware of the content being subscribed to so they have the choice to decide if they want to recieve material they may consider offensive

Agreed - with this caveat: Customers should be able to 'customize' the list of programs they want and not be hostage to the 'packages' offered that includes the channels they DO want, but also ones they don't.

If we really want 'freedom of choice' then we should HAVE freedom of choice./

11 posted on 07/31/2006 6:59:31 AM PDT by maine-iac7 ("...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Lincoln)
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To: sportutegrl
We need true cable choice, with cable competition, and the opportunity to pick and choose the channels we want, and not pay for channels we don't, with groups that make sense, like a 'sports' group, a 'kids programming' group, a 'movies' group, and a learning/science/history 'group.

We need a "my personal choices" group -

Most households would want some kid's programs, some history,etc, some home and gardening, some news -

12 posted on 07/31/2006 7:03:23 AM PDT by maine-iac7 ("...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Lincoln)
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To: doc30
Has there ever been a government agency name more ominous than Federal Communication Commission?
Think about it.
13 posted on 07/31/2006 7:03:24 AM PDT by VRWCtaz (A challenge to Liberals: I will read any book you name - if you will do the same. (very few takers))
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To: maine-iac7
Customers should be able to 'customize' the list of programs they want and not be hostage to the 'packages' offered that includes the channels they DO want, but also ones they don't.

I agree on that point. I would love to drop all the sports channels. I hear ESPN, and its derivative stations, get a big chunk of my cable bill and I never watch it. And Current TV can go bye-bye, too.

14 posted on 07/31/2006 7:15:29 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: VRWCtaz

The FCC - how easily it could morph into the Minstry of Truth from Orwell.


15 posted on 07/31/2006 7:16:15 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: doc30
Any student of history (even an Orwellian future history*) can not help but be a little bit of a conspiracy theorist.



*apologies to RAH
16 posted on 07/31/2006 7:33:56 AM PDT by VRWCtaz (A challenge to Liberals: I will read any book you name - if you will do the same. (very few takers))
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To: AT7Saluki

The gommint just wants to get its nose into another aspect of life. This is under the guise of "a la carte". Don't believe it. FCC was created because the airwaves are shared and interference is possible without some sort of body that will resolve requests to use the same frequency in the same area.
Beyond that, FCC has gone WAY beyond its powers into a huge burocratic monster that imposed control on speech.


17 posted on 07/31/2006 7:43:06 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (Leftism is the ideology of nihilism, despair, nothingness and death.)
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To: doc30

On the surface a la carte sounds good. But you're correct, bills would likely go up instead of down. ESPN charges per cable household, not who's watching. Doubt they'll take a pay cut if CableCo says only X people are ACTUALLY WATCHING. Until providers start selling by bandwidth (like you're power meter - pay for what you use regardless of what it's used for), packaging will remain. I remain convinced, television will one day be like the internet; you choose what you want, when you want.


18 posted on 07/31/2006 7:47:57 AM PDT by AT7Saluki
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To: doc30

"The FCC needs to keep its nose out of this one. Cable is a subscription service and does not use the public domain (i.e. a section of the electromagnetic spectrum for broadcast)."

This is not exactly true. Almost all cable channels, except for local channels, are distributed to the cable systems via satellite downlinks. So at some point they do use the "public domain".


19 posted on 07/31/2006 9:59:47 AM PDT by chaosagent (Remember, no matter how you slice it, forbidden fruit still tastes the sweetest!)
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