Posted on 02/09/2009 8:44:21 PM PST by MindBender26
The Suits Are Scared: Obama's Plan To Take Over Broadcast Television.
I'm in New York tonight, and just back in my hotel room after watching Obama's news conference performance. I had a front row seat in my old network's main conference room. Us old retired TV newsie types are normally relegated to the back row of the bus, but due to my Elder Statesman / retired Crusading Reporter status, (and the fact that I bought two rounds at dinner) I was granted special dispensation to sit up front with "The Suits."
"The Suits" is network parlance for the bosses from the business side of the network. Many have come from the Sales Department, where the overriding qualification for promotion is to sell as many commercials as possible to non-creditworthy customers who never pay us. Others come from the Programming Department. They're the ones who are in charge of driving away as many viewers as possible, particularly those from that narrow demographic band of viewers that actually, occasionally, ever so rarely, buy something that one of our deadbeat advertisers features on the air. This is the group that has given us "Mister Ed," "My Mother the Car," and other ratings grabbers while they canceled the original Star Trek as soon as they could and told everyone who would listen that they expected M*A*S*H might eek out a 13-week run.
Others are your basic long-necked pencil geek accountants, administrative zombies and the like (and others you definitely do not like, such as any attorneys within 500 yards.)
Cumulatively, they couldn't win $20 on "are you smarter than a 5th grader. As far as news sense is concerned, none of them can spell Gern-a-liz-zum.
Tonight The Suits were in Full Panic Mode. Someone finally got around to sending them a memo that reminded everyone that the new FCC Chairman-designate and radical leftist Michael Copps has publicly stated that he wants to remove 95% of the value of many television stations (their government license to broadcast and make money by selling commercials for hemorrhoid creams and the like.)
He has made speeches stating that he wants to give those licenses to "community groups". Two of his favorite "community groups" are ACORN-type organizations and labor unions. Copps is also demanding that all broadcast stations be re-licensed every two years, instead of the current seven. That will ensure that every, I repeat, every, broadcast station in the United States will have to apply for (go begging for) the renewal of its broadcast license (and the accompanying 95% of the station's value) before the 2012 general election.
Now, everyone in the class who believes that broadcast station owners will move their programming and news coverage even further left so as not to offend the Obama administration and therefore watch their billion dollar investments be given away to, that's right class, can we all say "Community Organizers," that's right, there billion-dollar investments be given away, please raise your right hand.
Your right hand, please Mr. Rather, not your left.
That seems to be unanimous. You may all put your hands down.
Now all the very smart FReepers certainly now realize the underlying foundation for their Full Panic Mode.
But wait! (As we used to say in the early days of radio) there is more!
Tonight there is a well-founded rumor floating around Black Rock, West 57th in the hallowed halls of Rockefeller Center. Insiders claim that Obama's media dweebs in Washington want to force the broadcast networks to give up either a full hour, or perhaps a half-hour, of prime time every month so The Great Obama can conduct his televised version of fireside chats.
That's right, Mr. Obama wants to demand free prime time coverage of his version of "Crazy Uncle Elmo Explains It All to Us." The idea would be that all four major networks would be required to simultaneously carry Obama in his Big Brother role, continuing to try to convince us that he alone has all the answers, that we can tax our way to prosperity, and that we should ignore all those felony records and charges of his Cabinet officials.
The cost of this? Even more billions of lost advertising revenue. (The new watchword of the Obama administration seems to be, "Why screw people out of just a few million, when with a little forethought and effort, you can screw the public out of billions of dollars?")
This new, forced programming would not be a press conference or any other environment that would allow questions, differing opinions, or just simple straight-up exposure of Obama's, Reid's, and Pelosi's lies. This would just be The Great One beaming down his magnificence upon us, reminding us all, that he and the Big Brother both love us.
This is not a sure thing yet, but Obama's people in Washington are working very hard to sledgehammer the networks into it. Imagine the power of your own, free 30 or 60 minute network political television program every month! Imagine how much horse sense you could convert into horse s**t in that time
Think about it. This will be enforced by the people who have the ability to take away tens of billions of dollars of broadcast station owners' equity with a simple stroke of the pen. It wouldn't even have to be a presidential executive order, let alone the bothersome details of getting a law passed in Congress. All it would take would be a simple 4-3 vote of a Democrat-dominated FCC.
Poof! Guess what Mr. Broadcast Station Owner? 95% of your wealth just disappeared because you wouldn't drink the Kool-Aid.
For those who think it couldn't, or wouldn't happen; think what has happened in the last 18 days that you wouldn't have thought would happen in, or to, our America in the next 18 centuries.
Cry, My Beloved Country!
. but make sure you wipe away the tears so your TV makeup doesn't run. Faking sincerity is SO important!
They should be scared.
They should have been scared last year when Obama was talking about all of this, but not in a position to implement it.
I guess their love for Obama is coming back to bite them.
Fold to fall in line with Obama? The only way i see beating this will be people just cancelling cable and Sat TV. The Washington Post owns the paper NewsWeak and TV stations. I think the TV is keeping them afloat. 10 million Republican voters cancelling their TV service?
Hmm...the networks, ad agencies (big money), corporations on and on who are in this giant industry will suffer greatly. Tens of billions. Do they take it or drop a dime on this marxist with the BC or something else because they realized that socialism will kill their businesses.
This POS already wiped out the banks and auto industry. Sadly too many people are too dumb to connect the dots.
This is “the capitalist will sell a hang man the rope” to a T. The capitalist at this point can change their mind but pretty soon they will swing from the rope.
This is very interesting. After all the networks (as well as other MSM) did for O, it looks like he’s going to let his FCC guy bite the proverbial hand.
I’ve been noticing that the press conference questions are starting to sound a bit more direct. I wonder if the battle has already begun.
No wonder Hussein Øbama the Magnificent wants to delay the switchover to digital signal TV. That would delay the Firesign chats explaining his learned and superiorly educated point of view.
Good Heavens! The peasants might turn on AM radio and hear the truth if the TV goes out.
Hmmmmm.
Yeah you will get the propaganda but everyone will get to keep their little dumb shows and ball games.
My approach is mass cancellations of TV service. It is the only way to break it and we let the news network know why.
Most Americans will sell their kids out if it means they can keep American Idol and college sports games, the NFL and NASCAR.
Good point.
The thought of pirate stations did cross my mind.
What did you think of Obama’s prime-time speech and press conference?
Thumbs up
Thumbs up
I didn't watch
Vote
Yup. Was it Lenin who said (I mentioned it before in the thread) that “A capitalist will sell you the rope you use to hang him.”
Well O is getting ready to put the rope around their necks. This is their last chance. I think the morons will hang. Also the poor boiling frog analogy which I hate to mention because it is so disgusting.
I say Repubs cancel TV in mass and let the networks go broke.
Obama will get on the TV and use his NLP programming/hypnosis. NLP is not BS by the way it is real.
“When do we declare?” WHO is part of the question....we’re a DIFFERENT country now.....this is NOT fun...
Not really. What was performed tonight in front of the cameras was a simple defusing exercise. Now the communists will proclaim great joy that Hussein Øbama The Magnificent has enlightened the masses with his "explanation" of a few semi-real questions regarding his approach to three or four aspects of his anonymous "Presidency."
Hey, not NASCAR! Just kidding but I know what you mean. It’s scarey times we’re living in. I’m so glad we don’t have any kids in school anymore...it used to be so different, civilized.
I’m trying to do what I can from my little corner of the world. FR keeps my mind healthy.
I don’t think it will be fun! Now I hear Obama also wants to control the CENSUS!...He wants to be a dictator and have control of everything, and everyone.
O has only been in office 3 weeks and he’s already done 2 primetime shows of an hour each. He made the nets cover him giving a speech to the house dems?, and a primetime news conference with obviously preselected questioners and presubmitted questions (anybody remember the last prime time presidential news conference?). At this rate we’ll probably be getting his reruns over the summer...
OMG! I didn’t believe you but there it was! We really are entering a different era and I don’t like it one bit.
“People...you have two choices BO’s way and BO’s way.”
I honestly don't see *anyone* accepting reruns of “The Acorn Week in Review.” I see lead balloons falling everywhere that look a lot like TV versions of Air America.
We would have to go cold turkey. In 6 months or less something would happen. This guy is starting to get too expensive for a lot of capitalists. Like the old thing about a mugged liberal becoming a conservative. Even liberals with money will see that he and his marxists are bad for business.
Hopefully enough people in this country have two brain cells to realize that businesses, people with any money and others have ZERO confidence in this guy.
At this rate well probably be getting his reruns over the summer...
***And it will be required viewing. Then in the fall you’ll have to write a paper on what you saw and how well it impacted your life.***
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