Posted on 09/13/2003 3:40:20 PM PDT by webber
Earlier this week, the FCC classified the vile Howard Stern Radio Show as a "bona fide" news program! Stern's radio program is by far the raunchiest on American airwaves, yet the FCC saw fit to put it in the same category as Meet the Press.
The FCC routinely makes decisions that benefit mega-corporations. The truth is, Stern can't get through a single program without talking about a woman's breasts or someone's genitalia. The FCC's decision to characterize Stern's filth as "news" and "information" is just the latest example of the Agency pandering to big media corporations.
Earlier this year, the FCC changed the rules for media ownership to hand more control of the broadcast airwaves over to a handful of powerful mega-conglomerates.
Whose interest is the FCC supposed to be protecting anyway? The airwaves belong to the American public and broadcasters "borrow" them for free in return for a promise to promote public interest. These recent decisions clearly show that the FCC doesn't care about the public interest.
This is your chance to do something about it!
The US Senate is currently considering a resolution that would overturn the FCC's recently announced media rules. A vote is expected to occur on Tuesday morning, September 16th.
Please take a moment today to contact your senator and urge them to stand up for decency and community standards. Ask them to vote "Yes" with Senators Lott and Dorgan on S. J. Res. 17 to roll back the FCC's devastating rules change.
It will just take a moment of your time to call or write your Congressman or Senator and FCC Chairman Michael Powell and urge them to take a stand on decency and community standards and to roll back the cap on station ownership to 35%. Click here to take action now.
Gee I'm not sure "Meet the Press" doesn't belong in the same category as Howard Sterm's radio show.
Some time ago they posted an RFC (Request for Comments) about an issue called BPL - Broadband over Power Lines. This is your Internet connection coming to you via the electrical power lines / grid. Technically proven to work. The problem is that when they start these transmissions it will cause major interference on other frequencies.
My concern is the radio - Amateur Radio (Ham) - frequencies. It will be a significant problem.
Other electronic devices will be affected as well. Read the labels on your electronic gadgets some time - the part about "must accept all interference".
The troubling part about the FCC on this issue was this: they did not ask for comments on whether or not people thought this would be a problem, they simply stated, how do we best implement this?
Their minds are already made up. The communications industry has obviously paid the right people the right amount of bribe money.
Amateur Radio communications will take a big hit on this. Emergency communications provided by Amateur Radio capability will take a big hit.
We all lose.
LVM
Until there is a technological breakthrough that will end the shortage of public broadcast spectrum, one company should not be assigned a majority of frequencies in a local market. In that respect, I agree with the bill that the House of Representatives passed by a 400-to-21 vote.
But the limitations on print media should be eliminated because there is no technical limit to the number of printing presses.
As for Michael Powell - who was appointed to the FCC by Bill Clinton and John McCain - he has done a lousy job. I think Kevin Martin will replace him as chairman next year.
No. Their role in cable TV is mainly limited to stuff like transmission issues (making sure the broadcasts to and from the satellites are up to snuff techically; if, say, CNN's signal were poorly implemented, it could bleed over onto other transmissions aimed at the satellite and cause interference), and regulation of local cable companies (how much they can charge, which local stations they must carry, picture quality, etc). They have no say in what cable programming is out there. If you want to start a cable channel, and have the money to do it, they cannot stop you. (Likewise, they cannot force any cable company to carry your channel.)
After all, the only limit to the number of cable channels is how many satellites are in orbit, and the only real limit to the number of satellites is how many private companies are willing to build, launch and maintain them. If there's no finite capacity, there's no legitimate reason for the FCC to regulate it.
I don't understand how they can let this go through. If it's going to interfere with ham frequencies, it's going to interfere with all HF frequencies, is it not? (I just got my license a money ago, so I haven't been paying too much attention to this issue yet.)
I need to go back and look to be sure but it seems like 30 - 80 MHz is where the most interference will happen. Yes, it won't be just our radio freq's that are interfered with.>p? You can go to the FCC web site, bit of a pain to navigate, I think. I would suggest the ARRL web site (www.arrl.org) to get up to speed. You don't need to be a member, although I am, to get to this material.
I believe the FCC comment period closed last month. It sure looks like it's coming. What a load of crap. I'm not licensed yet for HF - have every intention of doing so, just playing the balancing act between family - work - free time. I do want to get the code before they drop the requirement.
73 - Mark (K7LAS)
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